Pfizer CEO said Tuesday that the company has increased its vaccine production to deliver doses faster after an interruption in the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, tweeted that the company could complete an order for 300 million COVID-19 vaccines two weeks earlier following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier Tuesday in which it request to stop the distribution of the J&J vaccine.
Bourla wrote that his company was on track to complete the order of 300 million doses he had agreed to give two weeks early by the end of July.
@ Pfizer has increased production of our # COVID19 vaccine and could deliver 10% more doses to the US than previously agreed (May 220 million in total) and deliver the full 300 million agreed by the end of July in two weeks . early. In the fight against COVID-19, we are sitting in this, “he tweeted.
.@Pfizer has increased our production # COVID-19 vaccine and by the end of May can deliver 10% more doses to the US than previously agreed (total 220 million) and two weeks early provide the full 300 million agreed for the end of July. In the fight against COVID-19, we are together on this.
– AlbertBourla (@AlbertBourla) 13 April 2021
The CDC called on states to stop the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose COVID-19 vaccine earlier Tuesday, after six patients experienced problems with blood clotting after taking the vaccine.
Millions of doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have already been distributed in the US. It is one of three vaccines that have received emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and Moderna’s.
Johnson & Johnson said in a statement on Tuesday that it would delay the rollout of its COVID-19 vaccine across Europe following the CDC’s recommendation, while advising patients experiencing symptoms including shortness of breath or severe headaches after vaccinated, a health professional should contact.
“We are aware of an extremely rare disorder of people with blood clots combined with low blood platelets in a small number of individuals who received our COVID-19 vaccine,” Johnson and Johnson said in a statement.
“We have worked closely with medical experts and health authorities, and we support the open communication of this information to health professionals and the public,” the statement continued.
The CDC’s recommendation comes in response to six patients in the U.S., all women between the ages of 18 and 48, who experienced a “rare and severe type of blood clot” after taking the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Officials from the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plan to investigate the cases, but have demanded that the distribution of the vaccine be stopped in the meantime out of a plethora of caution.
The reason given for the break, despite the low number of cases of blood clots, was to give doctors time to understand how to treat the possible side effects, according to the CDC and FDA.
“It is in part important to ensure that the healthcare provider community is aware of the potential for these side effects and can plan for proper recognition and management due to the unique treatment required with this type of blood clot,” said officials from the two agencies said in a joint statement Tuesday.
– Updated at 17:04