Pfizer gets £48bn shot in arm from Covid jabs

US DRUGS giant Pfizer has raised its forecast for Covid-19 vaccine sales amid booming demand.

It now expects to rake in £26.5bn from the coronavirus shot this year – up from the £11bn targeted in February and £24.6bn in July.

Pfizer forecast another £21.3bn of sales from the vaccine next year, taking the total for 2021 and 2022 to nearly £48bn.

Pfizer is ramping up distribution of the jab around the world and shipping more doses for booster shots and children. It developed its vaccine with German firm Biontech, and said it was on track to deliver 2.3bn doses this year.

The vaccine generated £9.5bn in direct sales in the third quarter of 2021, helping overall revenues in the period more than double to £17.7bn. As a result, it upped its revenue guidance for the full year to between £59bn and £60bn.

The company’s shares jumped 5.4pc, or 2.36p, to 45.93p.

Its vaccine has been one of the biggest winners in the inoculation drive against Covid-19 after the UK became the first country to approve the jab last December.

Vaccinating children, as well as the use of booster shots for the elderly and vulnerable people, means demand is likely to stay elevated into 2022.

However, the use of boosters has faced criticism due to low vaccination rates in developing countries, particularly those in Africa, where immunisation rates are estimated to be less than 10pc.

Despite this, Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla said it is on track to deliver ‘at least 2bn doses to low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2022’. ‘One billion of these doses will be supplied to the US at a not-for-profit price to be donated to the world’s poorest nations at no charge,’ he said.