The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Friday, 23rd April, that she was confident that the EU will have enough doses by July to achieve the goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the adult population against COVID-19. In part, ‘thanks to the huge efforts’ of BioNTech and Pfizer to increase their production capacity.
Speaking during a visit to Pfizer’s plant in Puurs (Belgium), she also said that she expects to conclude “in the next few days” the contract for the purchase of 1.8 billion doses of the serum developed by the German laboratory and the American pharmaceutical company, which will be delivered between 2022 and 2023.
“Thanks to the enormous efforts of BioNTech and Pfizer, I am confident that we will have enough doses to vaccinate 70% of the adult population as early as July,” said Von der Leyen, accompanied by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, BioNTech co-founder and chief medical officer Özlem Türeci, and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
The President of the European Commission pointed out that the EU vaccination campaign was “on track” in spite of the “difficulties” encountered at the beginning of the campaign. These challenges have been mitigated by the “large portfolio” of acquired vaccines and the performance of “solid and reliable suppliers such as BioNTech and Pfizer”.
In particular, Von der Leyen pointed out that the EU had this week passed the threshold of 150 million doses delivered to Member States, of which 123 million doses had already been administered.
New agreement with Pfizer
Von der Leyen has pointed out that Pfizer’s Puurs plant was the first to produce vaccines on a large scale based on messenger RNA, or mRNA, which is the technology on which Brussels is relying more heavily in its vaccination campaign.
In fact, the EU’s Chief Executive has announced that she intends to conclude the new contract with these two pharmaceutical companies ‘in the next few days’. This arrangement provides for the purchase of 1.8 billion doses to be distributed between 2022 and 2023 to the Member States to cover a reinforcement of immunisation, the needs in the face of the appearance of new variants, and the vaccination of minors.
“This will consolidate the EU’s leadership in mRNA technologies“, said Von der Leyen, who also welcomed the fact that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Friday gave the go-ahead for a 20% increase in production capacity at the Belgian plant in Puurs.
The Pfizer CEO explained that improvements to the plant’s production processes have reduced the average manufacturing time from about 100 days to 60 days. Bourla also noted that the company is well on its way to “surpassing” delivery commitments to EU countries.
“We will deliver 250 million doses by the end of the second quarter, four times more than in the first quarter”, he emphasised in line with what was recently agreed with the European Commission. He also added that as of May, the company expects to be able to produce approximately 100 million doses per month at the Belgian plant.
In total, the current agreements between Pfizer and the EU executive provide for the distribution of 600 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to EU countries before the end of the year.
Türeci welcomed the power of public-private partnerships to address such health emergencies and said another lesson from this pandemic is that ‘science and technology can make a difference’.