J&J forecasts $2.5B COVID vaccine sales this year, lagging rivals

Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson revealed Wednesday that it expects to take home about $2.5 billion from COVID-19 vaccine sales in 2021, far lower than estimates from its jab rivals Moderna and Pfizer.

Pfizer and Moderna have previously forecast $26 billion and $19.2 billion in annual sales of their vaccines, respectively. Those two-shot vaccines were approved by US regulators last year, while J&J’s one-shot vaccine was approved earlier this year. J&J’s vaccine has been hit by various setbacks, including concerns over rare but severe side effects that appear to be linked to the vaccine as well as questions over the shot’s effectiveness against new variants of the virus.