- The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca promised to increase its production to 2 million vaccines a week by mid-January, even with the launch of government vaccines below expectations.
- “The plan is then to increase it quickly – in the third week of January we are expected to reach two million a week,” an unidentified AstraZeneca official told The Times.
- Hospitals and clinics in the United States took a “more measured” approach than expected when they started distributing vaccines, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca promised to increase its production to 2 million vaccines a week by mid-January, even with the launch of government vaccines below expectations.
“The plan is then to increase it quickly – in the third week of January we are expected to reach two million a week,” an unidentified AstraZeneca official told The Times.
This would double current production.
Even as vaccine production increases, governments around the world are struggling to deliver on their promised implementation plans. Far fewer people than expected received the vaccine by the end of last year.
At the end of the year, only 2.8 million vaccines were distributed in the United States, a fraction of the expected 20 million, as hospitals and clinics have taken a “more measured” approach to vaccine distribution, according to the Control and Control Centers. Prevention of diseases.
“Many jurisdictions have planned a more measured start for vaccinations, and I am excited that 2.5 million people have started the vaccine and are on their way to protection,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, in a press conference.
She added: “I really hope that these numbers will increase rapidly next week.”
In the UK, officials said the Pfizer vaccine, which requires two injections, would be administered 12 weeks apart, instead of the expected 21 days, according to BBC News.
The number of vaccine doses promised in 2021 is impressive and ever increasing.
Pfizer, with partner BioNTech, said last week that it would supply 100 million additional doses to the European Union this year, bringing the total to 300 million.
This raises the expected total production for 2021 to 1.3 billion vials of Comirnaty, the name given to the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We remain committed to acting as quickly and safely as possible to bring this vaccine to more people in Europe, as the deadly virus continues to spread at an alarming rate,” said Albert Bourla, president and CEO of Pfizer, in a statement.
The reported increase in AstraZeneca to 2 million doses per week would be good news for the United Kingdom, which has contracts for 100 million doses.
About 530,000 doses of AstraZeneca will be available on Monday, with an additional 407,000 doses expected to be added soon, according to Channel 4 News. At the beginning of last year, the UK government promised 30 million doses by September.
AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
Like the Pfizer drug, the AstraZeneca drug also requires two injections. UK officials on New Year’s Eve said the two were interchangeable, but some health professionals said that mixing the two together could be risky.