With demand for COVID-19 vaccines outpacing the world s supplies, a frustrated public and policymakers want to know: How can we get more? A lot more. Right away.
The problem: It s not like adding more water to the soup, said vaccine specialist Maria Elena Bottazzi of Baylor College of Medicine.
Makers of COVID-19 vaccines need everything to go right as they scale up production to hundreds of millions of doses and any little hiccup could cause a delay. Some of their ingredients have never before been produced at the sheer volume needed.
And seemingly simple suggestions that other factories switch to brewing new kinds of vaccines can t happen overnight. Just this week, French drugmaker Sanofi took the unusual step of announcing it would help bottle and package some vaccine produced by competitor Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. But those doses won t start arriving until summer and Sanofi has the space in a factory in Germany only because its own vaccine is delayed, bad
With demand for COVID-19 vaccines outpacing the world s supplies, a frustrated public and policymakers want to know: How can we get more? A lot more. Right away. The problem: It s not like adding more water to the soup, said vaccine specialist Maria Elena Bottazzi of Baylor College of Medicine. Makers of COVID-19 vaccines need everything to go right as they scale up production to hundreds of millions of doses and any little hiccup could cause a delay. Some of their ingredients have never before been produced at the sheer volume needed. And seemingly simple suggestions that other factories switch to brewing new kinds of vaccines can t happen overnight. Just this week, French drugmaker Sanofi took the unusual step of announcing it would help bottle and package some vaccine produced by competitor Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. But those doses won t start arriving until summer and Sanofi has the space in a factory in Germany only because its own vaccine is delay
Why it s hard to make vaccines and boost supplies
Empty vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are seen at a vaccination center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Las Vegas. Makers of COVID-19 vaccines need everything to go right as they scale up from early-stage production to hundreds of millions of doses – and any little hiccup could cause a delay. (John Locher/AP Photo)
Part of a freezer farm, a football field-sized facility for storing finished COVID-19 vaccines, in Puurs, Belgium. (Pfizer via AP)
Boxes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are prepared for shipping from the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, Miss. (Paul Sancya/AP Photo)
Covid 19 coronavirus: Why it s hard to make vaccines and boost supplies
28 Jan, 2021 07:54 PM
5 minutes to read
AP
By: Lauren Neergaard
With demand for Covid-19 vaccines outpacing the world s supplies, frustrated populations around the world are asking: How can we get more right away?
The problem: It s not like adding more water to the soup, said vaccine specialist Maria Elena Bottazzi of Baylor College of Medicine.
Makers of Covid-19 vaccines need everything to go right as they scale up production to hundreds of millions of doses and any little hiccup could cause a delay.
Some of their ingredients have never before been produced at the sheer volume needed, and the process takes time.