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| DATE | 2020-12-04 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Vaccine roll out problems..
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wsj.com
Pfizer Slashed Its Original Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout Target After
Supply-Chain Obstacles
Costas Paris
5-7 minutes
When Pfizer Inc. said last month it expects to ship half the Covid-19
vaccines it had originally planned for this year, the decision
highlighted the challenges drug makers face in rapidly building supply
chains to meet the high demand.
“Scaling up the raw material supply chain took longer than expected,” a
company spokeswoman said. “And it’s important to highlight that the
outcome of the clinical trial was somewhat later than the initial
projection.”
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The Logistics Report
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chain to transport and technology.
Pfizer still expects to roll out more than a billion doses in 2021 as
originally planned.
Pfizer and Germany-based partner BioNTech SE had hoped to roll out 100
million vaccines world-wide by the end of this year, a plan that has now
been reduced to 50 million. The U.K. on Wednesday granted emergency-use
authorization for the vaccine, becoming the first Western country to
start administering doses.
The two-shot vaccine also is being reviewed by the Food and Drug
Administration in the U.S., where a similar authorization could come
later this month and a rollout before the end of the year. The U.S.
regulator also is considering a vaccine developed by Cambridge,
Mass.-based Moderna Inc. that could begin shipping before Christmas.
The doses are among an array of vaccines that have been developed this
year as the coronavirus pandemic has raged across much of the world.
Authorities estimate nearly 1.5 million people world-wide have died from
the virus, including 273,836 in the U.S. as of Dec. 2.
Pfizer had its 100-million dose goal in place until mid-November, when
it became clear the supply-chain hurdles were too great for the
end-of-the-year timeline.
“We were late,” said a person directly involved in the development of
the Pfizer vaccine. “Some early batches of the raw materials failed to
meet the standards. We fixed it, but ran out of time to meet this year’s
projected shipments.”
Pfizer sources its raw materials from providers in the U.S. and Europe.
Scaling up production of these components proved challenging last month
as the company awaited the results of its trials, which came in to be
95% effective and well-tolerated in a 44,000-subject trial.
Pfizer wouldn’t say where shortfalls over ingredients arose as it ramped
up production. Vaccines typically contain materials from suppliers that
can include antivirus agents, antiseptic liquids, sterile water and
elements of the DNA of the virus itself that won’t cause serious
symptoms but trigger the immune system to make antibodies.
In a typical vaccination campaign, pharmaceutical companies would wait
until their product is approved before buying raw materials,
establishing manufacturing lines and setting up supply chains to ship a
vaccine. Pfizer has never manufactured a vaccine with technology that
uses mRNA, the molecular couriers that carry genetic instructions to
cells in the human body, so it has had to scale up production capacity
even as research was still under way.
“For this one, everything happened simultaneously,” the person familiar
with the Pfizer development said. “We started setting up the supply
chain in March, while the vaccine was still being developed. That’s
totally unprecedented.”
Pfizer and BioNtech are now on track to roll out 1.3 billion vaccines in
2021 and the 50 million dose shortfall this year will be covered as
production ramps up.
The company is setting up what it has described as its biggest ever
vaccination campaign through two final assembly and distribution centers
in Kalamazoo, Mich., and Puurs, Belgium, which will handle the European
supply.
The U.K. authorization marks a milestone in the effort to develop a
promising new vaccine technology into a widely available shot in record
time.
The U.K. ordered 40 million Pfizer doses, enough to vaccinate 20 million
people. The government said in November that it could get up to 10
million doses this year, but the expectation now is that four to five
million vaccines will be shipped.
More From Logistics Report
U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the shots will be rolled out as
quickly as they can be made at Pfizer’s Belgium plant. Some 800,000 are
due in the coming days and “several millions” throughout December, he said.
The U.S. government has placed an initial order for 100 million doses of
the Pfizer vaccine, with the option to purchase 500 million additional
doses.
The EU ordered 200 million doses with an option for another 100 million.
Japan ordered 120 million doses, and countries in South America and in
the Asia-Pacific region also have placed significant orders.
Write to Costas Paris at costas.paris-at-wsj.com
Amplification
Pfizer announced on Nov. 9 that it would scale its target for the number
of vaccines produced this year. An earlier version of this story didn’t
specify the time of the announcement.
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