Scientists fear shortages because no other vaccines are being approved, leaving Pfizer-BioNTech to fill the gap.
BioNTech is working closely with partner Pfizer to increase production of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to its founders, who warn that there will be gaps in supply until other vaccines are rolled out.
The German biotech startup has led the vaccine race, but its shot has been slow to reach the European Union due to the relatively slow approval of the bloc’s health regulator and the small size of the order made by Brussels · Les.
The delays have caused consternation in Germany, where some regions had to temporarily close vaccination centers days after an inoculation test was launched on 27 December.
“At the moment it doesn’t look good: a hole appears because other approved vaccines are missing and we have to fill the gap with our own vaccine,” Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, told the German weekly Der Spiegel in an interview.
On January 6, a shot of Moderna is expected to be cleaned up by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
German Health Minister Jens Spahn has urged the EMA to also quickly approve a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca that Britain eliminated this week. The EU timetable for this treatment remains uncertain.
Sahin said the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine, which uses messenger RNA to instruct the human immune system to fight the coronavirus, should be able to deal with a variant first detected in Britain that appears to be more contagious.
“We are testing whether our vaccine can also neutralize this variant and we will know more soon,” he said.
Asked to deal with a severe mutation, he said it would be possible to modify the vaccine as required within six weeks, although these new treatments could require additional regulatory approvals.
New production line planned
Sahin founded BioNTech with his wife, Oezlem Tuereci, who is the company’s chief medical officer. Both criticized the EU’s decision to disseminate the orders in the hope that more vaccines would be approved soon.
The United States ordered 600 million doses of the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine in July, while the EU waited until November to place an order of half that size.
“At some point it became clear that it would not be possible to deliver so quickly,” Tuereci told Spiegel. “By then it was too late to place follow-up orders.”
BioNTech expects to launch a new production line in Marburg, Germany, in February, which could produce 250 million doses during the first half of the year, Sahin said.
He was talking to contract manufacturers to increase production and it should be clearer by the end of January, he added.
Sahin also said BioNTech will make its vaccine, which requires storage at about 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit), easier to handle.
A next-generation vaccine that would be kept at higher temperatures could be ready in late summer.