Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine BNT162 Out By Autumn: Company Ramps Up Production To Make Sufficient Shots Available By End of 2020

Pfizer, in association with a biotech firm in Germany, has started the human trial of highly-anticipated coronavirus vaccination.

Earlier this week, Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla revealed that the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine could be available by this autumn for emergency use. However, the company is also said to have ramped up the production of the vaccine shots for it to be available for broader and widespread use by the end of 2020.

It is expected that the pharmaceutical giants will be able to produce millions of doses by the time it is required for broader use. The German Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedical Drugs approved the first clinical trial for COVID-19 vaccine in Germany.

"The companies estimate that there is potential to supply millions of vaccine doses by the end of 2020, subject to technical success of the development program and approval by regulatory authorities, and the potential to rapidly scale up the capacity to produce hundreds of millions of doses in 2021," reads a statement.

The promising Pfizer vaccine for coronavirus is already in human trials in Germany, However, human trials of the experimental vaccine in the U.S. are expected to begin early next week, following the regulatory approval.

The vaccine, named BNT162, has already been administered to 12 volunteers in Germany since the start of the clinical trial. The trial was kicked off on April 23rd, 2020. The results of the initial assessment have not been reported yet.

The German firm, BioNTech, says that it plans to recruit 200 volunteers aged between 18 and 55 and administer them a dosage varying from t 1µg (microgram) to 100µg. The objective is to find the optimal dosage that would be the most appropriate for future trials. The safety and immunogenicity of the promising coronavirus vaccination will also be assessed.

Pfizer vaccine for coronavirus is among the list of several vaccines currently being developed. Last week, the University of Oxford scientists at the Jenner Institute announced that they are also expected to roll out a coronavirus vaccination for millions by fall. A batch of 800 volunteers has already received the first dosage.

The Oxford coronavirus vaccination contains a virus called adenovirus that has the same spike proteins as the coronavirus but is unable to cause an infection in the host.