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Pfizer and Biontech can only deliver 50 million doses of the Covid vaccine this year. The companies halved their original plan to distribute 100 million doses of vaccine this year due to quality problems with supplies. The two companies had already announced it on November 9. At the time, however, the news was lost in euphoria over the announcement on the same day that the vaccine developed by the German company Biontech had proven its effectiveness in the clinical study. The delays meant that all countries that were among the main recipients of the deliveries “have to count on fewer doses of vaccines in the first weeks,” Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) said in Berlin on Friday. “However, from today, when approval is given, the first vaccines in Germany will be possible by the end of the year.”
Pfizer and Biontech are sticking to their plan to distribute up to 1.3 billion doses next year, enough for 650 million vaccines, despite the delay. Pfizer does not specify delivery issues further. These are quality problems with raw materials, which have already been resolved, said a spokesman for the company, the “Wall Street Journal”, which has now halved the volume of delivery on the subject, thereby company stock prices fell.
The vaccine is not yet approved in the United States. On November 20, the companies applied for a corresponding FDA emergency permit, which would allow the vaccination of particularly vulnerable populations. The authority will consult on December 10 and, according to the general expectation, must grant approval. Britain has gone ahead, approved the vaccine and will likely start vaccines on Tuesday.
Marketing Authorization Applications Submitted Worldwide
Pfizer and Biontech have made other applications around the world. The companies say they can start delivering within a few hours after approval. The FDA should also approve the vaccine from the American company Moderna in the next few days, clearing the way for the first batches to ship before Christmas. The third promising candidate is the Astra-Zeneca vaccine, which is also still in the approval phase.
Vaccine manufacturers are under a lot of pressure to get funds up and running quickly. A vaccine usually takes up to ten years to develop. In addition, the development of production capacities and the organization of distribution usually only begin after approval. This time, the companies have not only created their own production facilities and signed contracts with manufacturers, but have already started production in many cases. The next generation vaccines with mRNA technology developed by Pfizer / Biontech and Moderna have never been produced.
British pharmaceutical company Astra-Zeneca sees no problems with mass production of its Oxford-developed vaccine, despite big challenges. Pam Cheng, Vice President of Astra-Zeneca, recently spoke of “really big progress in the global manufacturing chain.” The company alone, without its licensed partner manufacturers, will have completed nearly 200 million doses of vaccines by the end of this year. Its Indian partner, the Serum Institute, has already produced 40 million cans. A partner in Brazil called Fiocruz has also produced large quantities. From the end of the first quarter of 2021 onwards, Astra-Zeneca plans to produce more than 700 million cans, each quarter. The British pharmaceutical company recently faced doubts about the effectiveness of its vaccine results.
A new study should help
Therefore, CEO Pascal Soriot has once again announced a new study that should demonstrate a 90 percent protective effect. As advantages of its vaccine, Astra-Zeneca highlights a lower price and easier production, storage and distribution. The Oxford vaccine only needs to be cooled to between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius. “This allows for relatively simple supply chain logistics,” said a spokesperson. The new mRNA vaccine from Biontech and Moderna, on the other hand, must be cooled to very low temperatures.
The Tübingen-based company Curevac is a few months behind Biontech / Pfizer: the massive tests relevant to the approval of the vaccine will only begin shortly. This can now be a positive factor because you can learn from the mistakes of the pioneers. To minimize risk in many ways, Curevac made the early decision not to look for a single production partner, but to establish an entire network: “If one of them fails, there are others available,” the logic goes. The first thing that happened at the end of November was a public contract with Wacker Chemie AG, and it is said that there are intense discussions with other companies.
