Pfizer denies further delays in vaccine production

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A Wall Street Journal report that said

Pfizer

expected to ship half of the expected number of doses of the Covid-19 vaccine this year rocked the stock market on Thursday.

Pfizer stock (ticker: PFE) fell 2% on Thursday, to $ 40.09. Actions of

BioNTech

(BNTX) closed down 2%, at $ 118.68, and fell an additional 1% in after-hours trading. The rival vaccine stock

Modern

(MRNA) jumped 10%, to close at $ 157.26, then returned 2% after hours.

It may have been an overreaction. Pfizer tells Barron’s that the figures cited by the Journal article are not up to date. The Journal wrote that raw material shortages would reduce Pfizer’s global vaccine production this year from 100 million doses to just 50 million. Still, Pfizer spokesman Andy Widger said Pfizer’s guidance since the second week of November has covered global deliveries of 50 million doses this year and 1.3 billion in 2021.

After its original publication, the Journal updated its story by noting that Pfizer announced on November 9 that it would increase its target for the number of vaccines produced this year.

For its part, Moderna plans to distribute around 20 million doses this year in the United States.

Both immunization programs prepared their products prior to government review and clearance. The UK gave Pfizer’s injections emergency use clearance on Wednesday, while the US Food and Drug Administration will discuss the vaccine with a panel of outside experts on December 10.

Modern

will receive its review by the FDA Advisory Board on Dec. 17.

In an email, Widger says Pfizer’s factories in the United States and Europe are slated for full-scale production. “[F]unused doses are being made at a rapid rate, ”he writes.

Public health officials have grappled with the question of who should receive the first vaccines. A panel informing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted on Tuesday that the initial allowance should go to health workers and residents of long-term care facilities. About 50 million doses would be needed to complete the two-dose regimen for America’s 21 million healthcare workers and 3 million nursing home residents. CDC planners expected to get most of the need this year, saying deliveries are expected to arrive at a rate of 5 to 10 million doses per week.

Write to Bill Alpert at [email protected]