BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin Talks About 'Manufacturing Challenge' Of Producing Enough COVID-19 Vaccines

Now that the vaccine from Pfizer Inc. PFE and BioNTech SE – ADR BNTX has been given the greenlight from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the companies have to scale up rapidly to meet demand.

Why It Matters: BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin in an interview with Reuters talked about the ramp-up production.

“We need to solve the manufacturing challenge. It is very clear that more doses are needed. And we are dealing with that question — how to produce more doses,” Sahih said.

The companies plan to make up to 50 million doses this month and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.

The UK became the first country to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 2 and started inoculation last Tuesday. 

In the U.S., a first round of 2.9 million doses this month will likely include healthcare workers and seniors as the main recipients.

One way to produce such an amount is to "exceed the 750 million-dose-a-year plant BioNTech bought from Novartis AG," the CEO told Reuters.

“The baseline plan is 1.3 billion doses, and we are working on an extended plan. I can’t tell you at the moment what is possible and how much we can expand the scale but we will try to do it significantly.”

What's Next: People could start receiving shots on Monday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to meet today to develop official recommendations and discuss potential risks of the vaccine for some groups of people, according to Reuters.

Price Action: Pfizer shares traded 0.19% higher in the after-hours session on Friday at $41.20.

BioNTech stock fell 0.047% and closed at $127.24.