Pfizer and BioNTech, which developed the first approved COVID-19 vaccine on the market, are ramping up production and expect to produce 2 billion doses this year.
BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin, speaking Monday at the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, which was held virtually, said the companies planned to double the number of doses they had committed to producing this fiscal year, according to international media reports.
Sahin said a new production site in Marburg, Germany, which is expected to become operational by the end of February, will be able to make as many as 750 million doses per year. The companies are already operating five other facilities which are producing the vaccinations – two in Germany and three in the US.
BioNTech also announced at the conference that it is looking to make the vaccine available to pregnant women and children, who currently are not advised to take it.
As of 10 Jan., 32.9 million doses of the vaccine had been shipped to countries worldwide, according to BioNTech.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the one that is currently being rolled out among the Cayman Islands population.
The vaccine, which is intended to be given in two doses 21 days apart, arrived on island from the United Kingdom on 5 Jan. A total of 9,750 doses were in the shipment, meaning there is enough to inoculate 4,875 people.
By Monday, more than 2,000 doses of the vaccine had been administered, free of charge, to people over 70, those with certain medical conditions, healthcare workers, frontline staff such as airport workers, and government officials.
Government Martyn Roper said at a press briefing last week that the next batch of vaccines is expected to arrive on one of the upcoming British Airways flights, but a date for that shipment has not yet been confirmed.
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