An obstacle facing the production of the "Pfizer" vaccine ... and a warning of the gaps
The founders of the German company Biontech stated that the company is working at maximum capacity with its partner Pfizer to increase production of their Covid-19 vaccine, and they warned that there will be supply gaps until other vaccines are introduced.
Biontec was the first in the vaccine race, but its vaccine is slowly arriving in the European Union due to the relatively late licensing of the vaccine from the European bloc's health authority and the small size of the request submitted by Brussels.
According to Sky News Arabia, the delays in launching the locally produced vaccine caused panic in Germany, as some regions were forced to stop vaccination days after the start of the campaign.
"At the moment things are not looking good, a gap appears because there is a shortage of other licensed vaccines and we have to fill the gap with our vaccine," Biontech CEO Ugur Shaheen said in a statement to the German Der Spiegel.
Shaheen founded Biontech with his wife, Ozlem Toraghi, who is the company's chief medical officer, and the two said that the mistake was the European Union’s decision to expand the scope of applications in anticipation of the approval of more vaccines quickly.
The United States requested 600 million doses of the Pfizer-Bionic vaccine in July, while the European Union waited until November to place an order for half that amount.
"At some point it became clear that it was not possible to concede so quickly," Toraghy told Spiegel. "By that time it was already too late to implement the following requests."
New production
Shaheen said Biontech hopes to launch a new production line in Marburg, Germany, ahead of schedule in February, with 250 million doses expected to be produced in the first half of 2021.
There are also ongoing talks with contracting companies and there should be more clarity on this by the end of January.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn tweeted that the German authorities will do everything possible for a possible quick start in Marburg.