Pfizer, Moderna to dramatically increase vaccine production in spring

PanARMENIAN.Net - Vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna testified to Congress Tuesday, February 24 they’re both on track to deliver 300 million doses each by the end of July—which would vaccinate 300 million people, since both shots require two doses—and manufacturing improvements will let them increase the number of vaccines they’re able to ship out even sooner, Forbes reports.

Pfizer will be able to ship more than 13 million doses by mid-March, Chief Business Officer John Young testified Tuesday—up from four to five million per week at the start of February—providing 120 million doses in total by the end of March and an additional 80 million doses by the end of May.

Moderna President Stephen Hoge told lawmakers the company will have delivered 100 million doses of the vaccine to the U.S. government by the end of March and will move up its schedule to send out a second 100 million by the end of May; more than 40 million monthly doses will be sent out by April, double the company’s current rate.

If the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is approved after the Food and Drug Administration discusses it later this week, the company is on track to provide enough of the single-shot vaccine to cover 20 million Americans by the end of March and 100 million in the first half of 2021, Dr. Richard Nettles, Vice President of U.S. Medical Affairs at Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, testified.

The federal government is steadily increasing the number of vaccines it distributes to states, announcing Tuesday states will receive 14.5 million doses this week—up from 13.5 million last week and 8.6 million in Biden’s first week in office, an increase of nearly 70%.