Covid vaccine: Pfizer will only be able to manufacture half of those it had planned for 2020

The coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech was the first to be approved in Europe and will begin implementation next week in Scotland. However, the pharmaceutical company has announced that it will only be able to produce half of the doses it had planned before the end of the year.

Pfizer has said in recent weeks that it plans to produce 50 million doses of its vaccine this year, which is lower than the previous target of 100 million doses. As published Thursday by the newspaper The Wall Street Journal, the difficulties are presented by supply chain challenges facing the pharmaceutical company.

Pfizer’s vaccine is based on a regimen of two dosesIn other words, 50 million doses are enough to inoculate 25 million people. A spokesperson for the company said The Wall Street Journal What “The expansion of the materials supply chain has taken longer than expected”.

The newspaper reported that an anonymous person directly involved in the development of the Pfizer vaccine claimed that “Some of the first batches did not meet the standards”, which resulted in production delays.

Pfizer requested emergency clearance for its COVID-19 vaccine from U.S. regulators in November. U.S. officials expect the vaccine to gain regulatory approval this month.

The approval of Pfizer’s vaccine in Britain in record time makes the government proud but worries scientists and regulators across the rest of the European Union, who believe that there is a risk of discrediting the vaccine and resisting its administration because its tests are too rapid. For them, there can be no mistakes and information should be shared in order to speed up vaccination, if possible, and to work together.

European Union regulators “have asked Britain for information to share data on its approval of the Pfizer vaccine,” according to a senior official at the World Health Organization. They seek power compare research and speed up vaccine launches, based on the analysis of British scientists, highly respected in the EU.

Matt Hancock, the secretary of health, said he would be vaccinated live on television to demonstrate the safety of the vaccine. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will follow suit.

Dr Mahesfi Ramasamy, Oxford’s leading vaccine researcher, said she would take “the first vaccine they offer me, even if it came from a rival company”.

She expects “the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine will be approved before the end of the year”.

Scientists are under pressure from financial markets, which demand a press release on progress. They prefer to offer regulators their full data for approval rather than an “emergency approval,” like the one Britain has given to Pfizer.

JPE