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 The drugmaker's chief executive, Albert Bourla, used a visit by the
U.S. president to the company's largest manufacturing facility to
announce that he expects to more than double the around 5 million
doses per week the company currently provides to the U.S.
government.
The Biden administration is trying to accelerate an unprecedented
campaign to vaccinate most American adults as local governments
clamor for more doses and the virus kills thousands of Americans
every day.
Biden on Friday said he was confident he would be able to surpass
his goal to distribute 100 million COVID-19 shots during his first
100 days in office. But he also said that any semblance of normalcy
may still many months away.
"We're now on track to have enough vaccine supply for all Americans
by the end of July. That doesn't mean it'll be in all Americans'
arms, but enough vaccine will be available," Biden said in a
warehouse filled with hundreds of ultra-cold freezers each holding
360,000 vaccine doses.
"I can't give you a date when this crisis will end," Biden said. But
I can tell you: We're doing everything possible to have that day
come sooner rather than later."
Less than 15% of the U.S. population has been vaccinated against the
highly contagious illness that has claimed nearly 500,000 lives in
the United States.
Bourla said it is possible to increase supply because of
improvements in the manufacturing processes at the plant, better lab
testing methods and Biden's use of powers under the Defense
Production Act to speed up manufacturing.
During the visit to the Michigan plant, Biden challenged the company
to deliver even earlier the 300 million doses of the vaccine it has
agreed to supply by the end of July, and the company is looking for
ways to speed production, Bourla said.
To that end, Pfizer said that by the end of the year it will add
manufacturing capacity in Michigan, raw material production capacity
both in Michigan and Connecticut, and add production lines to put
vaccine into vials in Kansas. It has also engaged two U.S. contract
manufacturers to help produce the shots.
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 Biden also stressed vaccine
production standards during the tour, as he
encouraged Americans to get vaccinated. "I just
toured where it is being made," he said. "It
takes more time to do the check for safety than
make that vaccine. That is how fastidious they
are."
Pfizer has said it will provide the U.S.
government with 100 million doses by the end of
March and 100 million more by the end of May.
The company has already provided 40 million
doses to the U.S. government, as of Feb. 17,
Bourla said.
Pfizer is one of the largest employers in the
Kalamazoo County area Biden visited. Heavily
industrialized Michigan was key to Biden's 2020
election victory over former President Donald
Trump.
The U.S. drugmaker has not yet met all of its
global commitments on vaccine supply. As of
Wednesday, it had not yet delivered to the
European Union about 10 million COVID-19 vaccine
doses that were due in December, EU officials
told Reuters.
Pfizer developed the two-dose vaccine with
Germany’s BioNTech SE.
Moderna Inc, which is also producing COVID-19
vaccine domestically, has agreed to supply the
United States with 300 million doses of its own
similar two-shot vaccine by the end of July.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden's top medical adviser,
said on Tuesday that demand still far outpaces
supply at the moment.
Jeff Williams, mayor of Arlington, Texas, who
met with Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet
Yellen in recent weeks, said his city of 400,000
was ready to vaccinate 40,000 people a day but
only had enough supply to administer 3,000
doses.
 (Reporting by Alexandra Alper in Portage,
Michigan, Michael Erman in Maplewood, N.J.,
Andrea Shalal in Washington; Writing by Trevor
Hunnicutt; Editing by Peter Cooney, Bill Berkrot
and Grant McCool)
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