Moderna Inc. said Friday it remains committed to creating jobs in Massachusetts and will hire at least 155 more people for high-tech manufacturing roles this year. The biotech, which has an emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine, said it has almost doubled its workforce in the Bay State in the past year to about 1,500 workers from 830 as of March 31, 2020. The company is still expanding in Norwood and Cambridge, it said in a statement. In Norwood, a production and lab space has been expanded into an industrial technology center by growing to 650,000 square feet from about 300,000, by renovating existing space and leasing a 240,00 sq. ft. building on the same campus. That will support a 50% increase in production of the COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna has committed to increasing 2022 global capacity to up to 3 billion doses, depending on the mix between the current authorized dose level and potentially lower ones of its variant booster candidates and pediatric medicines, if those are authorized. Shares were flat premarket, but have gained 94% in the year to date, while the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF has fallen 4.6% and the S&P 500 has gained 12.4%.
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