By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) stock fell more than 4% as the company said issues at its manufacturing partners’ end have slowed down the release of Covid-19 vaccines to countries outside the U.S.
According to Bloomberg, Moderna’s manufacturing partners outside the U.S. are “facing delays” due to laboratory testing issues that occurred in recent days.
While the problem has been resolved, it has slowed release of Moderna’s vaccine to markets outside the U.S., Bloomberg said.
The news agency reported that the company is shipping shots as it makes them and has no extra shots on hand.
Earlier in the day, Reuters reported that Moderna had pushed back its late-July shipments for South Korea to August due to supply problems that will affect other countries as well.
The supply issue is linked to the vaccine manufacturing process involving Switzerland’s contract drugmaker Lonza (SIX:LONN) and a Spain-based company which does bottling work for the Moderna vaccine, the Reuters report quoted Jung Eun-young, head of the vaccine procurement team in South Korea, as saying.
She did not name the firm, but, according to Reuters, Spanish company Rovi (MC:ROVI) bottles, or "fills and finishes," Moderna vaccines for markets other than the U.S.