BioNTech raises vaccine distribution goal to 2 billion doses

BioNTech SE, Pfizer’s vaccine development partner, has boosted the 2021 delivery target for its Covid-19 vaccine to 2 billion doses, an increase from its previous projection of 1.3 billion, due to the addition of new production lines and as more doses can be extracted per vial, according to a Reuters report.

The company mentioned yesterday—in a presentation for the virtual JP Morgan healthcare conference—that a new manufacturing site in Marburg, Germany, acquired from Novartis in September, could help increase annual capacity by up to 750 million doses when it becomes operational by the end of February.

Special syringes known as low dead space syringes allow for extraction of six vaccine doses from a standard vial, instead of the usual five, which can avoid wasting unused liquid left in a syringe, Reuters notes.