First Covid vaccine to be co-manufactured in Belgium

American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biopharma firm BioNTech have announced that their vaccine against Covid-19 is 90% effective.

The final phase of the trial to test the vaccine is complete, and the first results suggest that the drug will be ready to be approved by regulatory agencies, such as the European Medicines Agency, by the end of the month.

Should everything go smoothly, manufacture of the vaccine is expected to start in December. One of the manufacturing facilities around the world to produce the vaccine will be the Pfizer facility in Puurs, Antwerp province.

Flemish virologist Steven Van Gucht says that, if that is the case, Belgium would see vaccines available in the first half of next year. Some 1.3 billion doses of the vaccine are expected to be produced globally by the end of next year.

“Today is a great day for science and humanity,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla in the announcement. “The first set of results from our Phase 3 vaccine trial provides the initial evidence of our vaccine’s ability to prevent Covid-19. We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen.”

More than 43,500 volunteers of different ethnicities across six countries took part in phase 3 of the vaccine trial. Among them, 94 developed Covid, a much smaller number than projected. “With today’s news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis,” said Bourla.

Several other vaccines against the coronavirus are being tested in drug trials, including by Janssen Pharmaceutica, headquartered in Beerse, also in Antwerp province.

Photo courtesy BioNTech