Germany's BioNTech, which developed the first COVID-19 vaccination on the market with American partner Pfizer, says it expects to produce 2 billion doses in 2021 with ramped-up manufacturing.
Company CEO and co-founder Ugur Sahin says with three manufacturing sites in the United States and three in Europe operating or coming online soon, it expects to approximately double the number of doses committed for this fiscal year.
The company said in a presentation Monday to the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference that it is also looking to expand the people able to receive its vaccine to include pregnant women and children, among others.
As of Jan 10, the company says it has already shipped 32.9 million doses of its vaccine. The vaccine was 95% effective in trials.
The company's vaccine currently has to be stored at extremely cold temperatures, making delivery to remote areas difficult. But the company says it's working on a more stable version.