BioNTech starts production of the COVID vaccine at a new facility in Germany, increasing EU supplies

BioNTech BNTX, manufacturer of the COVID-19 vaccine,
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started production at a new location in Germany, in a move that will help alleviate the shortage of supplies for the injection it developed with Pfizer PFE,
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The factory will produce the mRNA, an active ingredient in the injection, which will be purified and concentrated, before being delivered to the partner facilities for completion. “The first vaccines produced at the Marburg site are due to be delivered in early April,” BioNTech said in a statement on Wednesday. The batch will need approval from the European Medicines Agency. BioNTech acquired the website of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis NVS,
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NOVN,
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last year, as part of a goal to increase the production of his shot to 2 billion this year. The factory has the capacity to produce up to 750 million doses of vaccines per year. The European Union has been criticized for a slow implementation of vaccination, aggravated by delays in the delivery of pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca AZN,
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AZN,
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and Pfizer in European factories. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen admitted on Wednesday that the EU was late to authorize the use of vaccines. “We are still not where we want to be,” von der Leyen said at a plenary session of the EU Parliament.