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Switzerland would have to discard 10.3 million doses of Moderna Inc's (NASDAQ: MRNA) COVID-19 vaccine, the health ministry said Saturday.
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The ministry said it had no choice but to eliminate the shots after the doses expired.
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It told the news agency that 2.5 million doses were being stored at a Swiss army logistics base and 7.8 million were in an external storage depot in Belgium.
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The ministry confirmed an initial report, which estimated that the destroyed doses would be worth around CHF280 million ($285 million).
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Related: Moderna Provides Vaccine For Preclinical Studies As WHO Tries Developing Its Own COVID-19 Shot.
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Switzerland ordered doses from various manufacturers to avoid reliance on vaccines that might eventually prove ineffective and to stave off any delivery problems.
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Vaccines based on mRNA technology from Moderna and Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) turned out to be effective, leaving Switzerland with a surplus of doses.
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In June, the Swissinfo news site estimated that Switzerland had around 38 million doses of various COVID vaccines that would expire before the year-end.
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The ministry said that some 3.5 million doses of the new, adapted Moderna vaccine would be available next month.
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Price Action: MRNA shares closed lower by 0.55% at $123.64 on Friday.
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