Moderna Inc. said it has signed vaccine purchase agreements worth US$18.5 billion for this year, along with options for another US$3.5 billion, including booster shots.

In a statement on Monday, the company also said 2021 product sales would be US$17.5 billion, slightly higher than the average analyst estimate of US$17 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Additionally, the company said that it shipped 807 million vaccine doses in 2021. Previously, it had said it would deliver between 700 million and 800 million doses.

In an interview Monday morning on Bloomberg TV, Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel said that he expected the sales orders for 2022 to rise as more deals were completed.

“I would expect over the year that those numbers are going to go up,” he said, noting that talks that could lead to additional agreements for this year are already underway.

Moderna shares were up 9.2 per cent at US$233.55 at 12 p.m. ET, rising alongside other vaccine makers including BioNTech SE and Novavax Inc. 

In the television interview, Bancel said that he expected that another COVID booster shot would be needed in the fall of 2022, and it is likely to contain a component tailored to the omicron variant. It might also target other specific COVID strains, he said, but it is too early to tell what those would be.

Moderna’s omicron-specific booster could enter into human trials within weeks, Bancel told Bloomberg TV.

The advance purchase agreements for 2022 are up from US$17 billion worth of commitments it had announced last year. Analysts were expecting US$19.3 billion in Moderna COVID vaccine sales for 2022, according to a Bloomberg survey of analyst estimates.