ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A new vaccine for COVID-19 is being produced in St. Louis County.
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page announced on Tuesday morning that Pfizer chose its St. Louis County facility to produce a new vaccine for COVID-19 simultaneously with clinical trials.
“I’m proud that Pfizer chose its St. Louis County facility to produce a new vaccine for #COVID19 simultaneously with clinical trials. As a doctor, I’ve seen medicine save lives - but a #COVID19 vaccine would truly impact us all,” Page wrote in a tweet.
Pfizer said it is working with German drugmaker BioNTech and that the first human participants in the United States have been dosed with the potential vaccine, BNT162. The dosing of the first cohort in Germany was completed last week, according to a press release.
“With our unique and robust clinical study program underway, starting in Europe and now the U.S., we look forward to advancing quickly and collaboratively with our partners at BioNTech and regulatory authorities to bring a safe and efficacious vaccine to the patients who need it most. The short, less than four-month timeframe in which we’ve been able to move from pre-clinical studies to human testing is extraordinary and further demonstrates our commitment to dedicating our best-in-class resources, from the lab to manufacturing and beyond, in the battle against COVID-19,” said Albert Bourla, Chairman and CEO, Pfizer.
Pfizer said the breadth of this program should allow production of millions of vaccine doses in 2020, increasing to hundreds of millions in 2021. Pfizer-owned sites in three states -- Massachusetts, Michigan and Missouri -- and Puurs, Belgium have been identified as manufacturing centers for COVID-19 vaccine production, with more sites to be selected.
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