Pfizer scaled back vaccine output target to 50 million doses in Nov

NEW YORK: Pfizer Inc. scaled back its Covid-19 production targets earlier this year after the drugmaker ran into difficulties securing all the materials it needs to produce the shots at a large scale.

In news releases through September, Pfizer had said that it aimed to manufacture up to 100 million vaccine doses this year. But in several releases in November, the company cut that to an estimate of up to 50 million doses. Pfizer is developing its vaccine with Germanybased BioNTech SE.

A Pfizer spokeswoman said in a statement that multiple factors slowed the company down, including the time it took to source large quantities of the raw materials needed to produce the shots. But the company said it has finished bringing its manufacturing up to scale and it is now producing vaccines at a rapid pace.

“Scaling up a vaccine at this pace is unprecedented, and we have made significant progress as we have moved forward in the unknown,” said spokeswoman Amy Rose. In particular, she said, “scale up of the raw material supply chain took longer than expected.” Modifications to the vaccine production lines in both the US and Europe are now complete, Rose said. “Finished doses are being made at a rapid pace,” said Rose. “We are confident in our ability to supply 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.”

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that supply-chain problems caused the New Yorkbased drugmaker to reduce the number of vaccines it expects to ship worldwide this year.