Pfizer was forced to cut its coronavirus vaccine production in half due to unforeseen manufacturing issues. Pfizer will ship 50 million doses worldwide in 2020 instead of 100 million. The company aims to produce more than 1 billion doses in 2021, as initially planned.
“There are three key areas where, as with all vaccines, we must demonstrate success in order to seek approval for public use,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla wrote in a public letter in mid-March. “First, the vaccine must be proven effective, meaning it can help prevent COVID-19 disease in at least a majority of vaccinated patients. Second and equally important, the vaccine must be proven safe, with robust safety data generated from thousands of patients. And finally, we must demonstrate that the vaccine can be consistently manufactured at the highest quality standards.” Since then, Pfizer and BioNTech have announced that the drug is highly effective against COVID-19, reaching 95% efficacy in the clinical trial’s Phase 3 stage. The vaccine is also safe, as volunteers only experienced transitory side-effects during the trial. And Pfizer must have demonstrated success at manufacturing the drug safely, as the two companies have already submitted the paperwork for emergency approvals. The UK already approved the vaccine for use, with vaccinations set to start soon.
