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US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has started manufacturing hundreds of thousands of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine ahead of its planned approval next month.
The UK’s Daily Mail posted a video on Sunday showing a manufacturing plant in Puurs, Belgium, with thousands of doses of the vaccine rolling off the production line.
Pfizer said last week that it expects to apply for an emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in late November, about two weeks after the November 3 US presidential election.
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The company said it hopes to move forward with the vaccine after safety data becomes available in the third week of November.
The company has said it expects to make 100 million doses available this year and 1.3 billion available in 2021. Each recipient will need two doses.
“It was great to see the first bottle come off the manufacturing line,” Pfizer UK CEO Ben Osborn told the Daily Mail. “It brought me a tremendous smile to see that all this work resulted in a product.
In July, the United States announced that it will pay Pfizer nearly $ 2 billion for a December delivery of 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine that the drug company is developing. The United States could buy another 500 million doses under the deal.
The agreement is part of US President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine program, under which multiple COVID-19 vaccines are being developed simultaneously. The program aims to deliver 300 million doses of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine by January 2021.
Under the initiative, the government will accelerate development and purchase vaccines, before they are deemed safe and effective, so that the drug can be readily available and distributed once the FDA approves or authorizes its emergency use after clinical trials.
Pfizer’s announcement last week means the United States could have two vaccines ready by the end of the year, and the Massachusetts biotech firm Moderna is targeting Nov. 25 to seek authorization.
A Pfizer production line for COVID-19 vaccine (Screencapture / YouTube)
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which authorizes the distribution of pharmaceuticals in the U.S., asked vaccine developers last week to spend two months monitoring serious side effects after the second dose is administered. to the trial participants.
The FDA will require that the vaccine be effective and safe, while Pfizer will have to demonstrate that it is capable of producing large-scale production.
Pfizer and Modern, both funded by the US government, launched Phase 3 of their clinical trials in late July, and both have started dose production.
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