Photographer: Oliver Bunic / Bloomberg
Photographer: Oliver Bunic / Bloomberg
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE plans to produce 2 billion doses of its Covid-19 vaccine this year, increasing previously expected production by more than 50% in response to rising global demand.
The companies have already agreed to deliver more than 1 billion doses in pacts with several countries, said BioNTech in a presentation at JP Morgan Health care Conference on Monday. O The European Union last week struck a deal to double its supply of Pfizer-BioNTech shots to up to 600 million, while the US closed a total of 200 million doses.
The supply of vaccines has been scrutinized as variants of the virus spread faster and the distribution effort in the United States faces strains. The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine should be administered in two doses 21 days apart. But some countries, including the United Kingdom, have chosen to stretch the time between vaccines in an effort to immunize more people as cases of the virus increase.
Previously, Pfizer and BioNTech expected to produce 1.3 billion doses this year. While companies plan to increase production with the help of contract manufacturers, the new target also takes into account a change in the label that allows doctors to extract six doses instead of five from each vaccine vial, BioNTech said.
The move “increases the number of vaccine doses by 20% overnight,” said BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin at the JPMorgan conference.
Pfizer representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than 25 million shots fired: Covid19 Vaccine Tracker
A new production unit in Marburg, Germany, scheduled to go into operation in late February, will be able to make up to 750 million doses per year, according to the presentation. BioNTech said it is also looking to add contracted suppliers and manufacturers and improve its production processes. Sahin expects that in the coming years, as the Covid-19 pandemic becomes endemic, where the disease persists, Pfizer-BioNTech recipients are likely to need additional reinforcements.
The partners sent 32.9 million doses of vaccine by January 10, said BioNTech. Some of the 50 million shots produced in 2020 remain in deep-frozen storage because countries were not yet ready to receive them, said a spokeswoman for BioNTech. For example, 12.5 million doses of last year’s production capacity were reserved for the EU, but since the bloc’s vaccine approval came at the end of the year, not all were shipped.
The promise of an increase in production comes when the team of US President-elect Joe Biden has said that he will distribute more of the available doses of the vaccine as soon as he takes office, instead of retaining half of the existing supply to ensure the second doses needed to reach maximum power.
The move, supported by a group of Democratic governors, represents a bet that there will be enough supply to guarantee a second chance in a timely manner. Some public health officials said the change could lead to dosing gaps or cause some people to skip the second dose altogether.
BioNTech’s American Depositary Receipts were up 8.8% on Monday in New York, while Pfizer was up 1.05%.
– With the help of Reg Gale
(Updates throughout starting in the third paragraph)