APRIL 29 (REUTERS) – PFIZER INC HAS BEGUN EXPORTING Coronavirus VACCINES MADE FROM U.S. FACTORIES AND WILL SHIP THEM TO MEXICO THIS WEEK.
A Pfizer plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, will export a Coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and German biotech companies to Mexico, an unnamed source told Reuters.
The source and a U.S. government official confirmed that under an agreement signed last year between Pfizer and the U.S. government, the drugmaker will not be allowed to export Pfizer vaccines made in the U.S. to other countries until March 31, 2021. This is the first time Pfizer has exported a Coronavirus vaccine to the U.S. since the export “restriction order” expired.
The drugmaker’s previous exports of Coronavirus vaccine to other countries were made from Pfizer’s factory in Belgium, Reuters reported.
Mexico is expected to receive 2 million doses of Pfizer vaccine this week, including more than 1 million from Belgian factories, the health ministry confirmed.
Pfizer’s U.S. vaccine plant will ship to other countries while meeting local demand, the source said. By the middle of this year, Pfizer is expected to produce 25 million doses of Coronavirus vaccine per week, enough to meet its contractual obligation to supply a cumulative 300 million doses of vaccines to the United States by the end of July.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has so far approved three Coronavirus vaccines for use in the U.S., Pfizer Vaccines, Modner’s Coronavirus Vaccine, and Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
As of April 29, more than 140 million people in the U.S. had been vaccinated against at least one dose of Coronavirus vaccine, according to official U.S. data.
