Moderna readying for next pandemic with human tests of 15 shots

Moderna readying for next pandemic with human tests of 15 shots

Moderna Inc. plans to start human trials for vaccines against 15 threatening viruses and other pathogens by 2025, part of a strategy to develop shots that could be made quickly in response to a future pandemic. The effort will include prototype vaccines against the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome, a cousin of Covid-19; the Ebola and Marburg viruses; a tick-borne virus that causes Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever; and mosquito-borne viruses such as chikungunya and dengue fever, according to a company statement Tuesday. Moderna has come under criticism from vaccine advocates who say the company has been slow to ship doses of its Covid vaccine to poor countries and that patents it is pursuing in South Africa threaten access to shots. The company is rowing back, announcing an agreement Monday to open a vaccine plant in Kenya that will make as many as 500 million doses annually, although it didn't specify which vaccines might be produced there. "Since our beginning, we have focused on developing a global health vaccine program," Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel said in the statement. "Today, we are renewing that focus by expanding our work to develop vaccines against priority pathogens that threaten global health." While