Pfizer-BioNTech to increase vaccine supply to 2.5 billion

While presenting its 2020 corporate results and financial update earlier this week, BioNTech SE, Pfizer's partner for their mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, revealed plans to expand its manufacturing capacity for the vaccine to up to 2.5 billion by the end of the year, up from its 2 billion-dose projection in January.

The reason, executives said, is to meet the increasingly growing demand—over 2.8 million people worldwide have succumbed to the virus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

As of March 23, more than 200 billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been supplied, and 1.4 billion doses are currently scheduled to be delivered via signed agreements.

BNT162b2, as it is also known as, has been approved or authorized for emergency or temporary use in more than 65 countries.