Moderna Cuts 10 Percent of Workforce in Cost-Cutting Efforts, Vaccine Revenue Declines

Moderna posted a $1.2 billion loss in the first quarter of last year, largely due to a 94 percent plunge in COVID-19 vaccine sales.

Kelly McBride Ni

Published: 7/31/2025, 4:43:09 PM EDT

Moderna Cuts 10 Percent of Workforce in Cost-Cutting Efforts, Vaccine Revenue Declines — A sign marks the headquarters of COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna in Cambridge, Mass., on April 28, 2022. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

Moderna, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company behind one of the first COVID‑19 vaccines, announced that it will reduce its global workforce by 10 percent by the end of 2025, according to a public memo sent to employees by CEO Stéphane Bancel.

“We are reducing the size of our workforce by approximately 10 percent globally. By the end of the year, we expect to be fewer than 5,000 colleagues strong,” Bancel wrote in the July 31 memo. He called the decision a “difficult but necessary step forward” and thanked departing employees for their contributions to the company’s mission.

According to Bancel, Moderna is targeting $1.5 billion in annual operating expense reductions by 2027. He said the company first attempted to cut costs by scaling down research and development programs, renegotiating supplier agreements, and lowering manufacturing expenses before deciding to implement job layoffs.

Moderna’s shares had declined more than 20 percent so far in 2025, and 90 percent lower than their pandemic-era peak. The company’s stock trading was about 4 percent lower Thursday following the layoff announcement.

Despite the cuts, Bancel emphasized that “Moderna’s mission remains unchanged.” The company currently has three approved products and plans to seek up to eight additional approvals in the next three years, with development focused on oncology, rare diseases, and latent virus vaccines, according to Bancel’s memo.

The company is also confronting changes in vaccine policy and funding. In May 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) terminated a $766 million contract supporting Moderna’s mRNA‑1018 H5N1 bird flu vaccine program.

The cancellation included a $176 million award from July 2024 and a $590 million contract from January 2025, both issued through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. HHS communications director Andrew Nixon told The Epoch Times in May that continued investment “was not scientifically or ethically justifiable,” citing concerns about the untested safety profile of mRNA vaccines and the importance of maintaining public trust.

“The reality is that mRNA technology remains under‑tested, and we are not going to spend taxpayer dollars repeating the mistakes of the last administration, which concealed legitimate safety concerns from the public,” Nixon said.

According to The Epoch Times in mid-2024, Moderna posted a $1.2 billion loss in the first quarter of last year, largely due to a 94 percent plunge in COVID-19 vaccine sales. Moderna attributed the past year's decline to the seasonal COVID-19 vaccine market and forecasted $4 billion in total sales for 2024, its lowest annual revenue since emergency authorization in 2020.

Moderna's total "revenue was $3.2 billion for the full year 2024, compared to $6.8 billion in 2023," according to the company's fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024 financial results. "The decrease in total revenue was mainly due to lower sales of the Company's COVID-19 vaccine. Net product sales for 2024 were $3.1 billion, a decrease of 53 percent from 2023."