by Michael Erman
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Pfizer and BioNTech to exceed their initial COVID-19 vaccine production target by 20% this year, with 2.3 to 2.4 billion doses, the chief executive officer said Thursday from Pfizer.
“We will clearly exceed the two billion doses this year,” Albert Bourla said in an interview.
The two partners plan to reach a production rate of three billion doses at an annualized rate by the end of the year and should be able to produce as many next year, he added.
Albert Bourla said Pfizer should be able to meet its commitment to deliver 120 million doses of its vaccine to the United States by the end of March. To do this, it will need to deliver 60 million additional doses over the next three weeks.
“These have already been manufactured” and are currently undergoing quality testing, he said.
“Unless a lot is defective, we will be able to deliver them. Our history shows that our lots are not defective.”
(French version Kate Entringer, edited by Marc Angrand)
