Bottles for the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are ready to be prepared before the opening of a mass vaccination site in the Queens borough of New York, February 24, 2021.
Seth Wenig | Pool | Reuters
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday that his company has ramped up production of its two-shot coronavirus vaccine and will be able to deliver a total of 300 million doses to the U.S. ahead of schedule.
Bourla said on Twitter that Pfizer can deliver 10% more doses to the U.S. by the end of May than it had previously agreed to produce — up to 220 million from 200 million.
The company will be able to supply the full 300 million, which it had agreed to deliver to the U.S. by the end of July, two weeks early, Bourla said.
“In the fight against COVID-19, we’re in this together,” he tweeted.
The announcement came as dozens of states temporarily stopped administering Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration advised them Tuesday to do so after six women in the U.S. developed a rare blood-clotting disorder that left one woman dead and another in critical condition.
Some states, such as New York, said they will use Pfizer’s vaccine in place of the J&J shot for appointments that had already been scheduled.
