Why only this 2 companies? Why don't we mobilize all pharma of the world to produce more mRNA vaccines quickly? Intellectual property? I think it's an extraordinary time so we should all agree to vaccinate all earthlings quicker is much higher priority than commercial interests.
intellectual property is one reason[1] but for the mRNA vaccines, the technology/machinery required to mass produce them is also part of the bottleneck along with raw materials[2]
> Novartis announced today that it has signed an initial agreement to leverage its manufacturing capacity and capabilities in order to address the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting the production of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine. The agreement will see Novartis utilizing its aseptic manufacturing facilities at its site in Stein, Switzerland.
> On March 2, we announced a partnership with Johnson & Johnson to expand manufacturing capacity and supply of its COVID-19 vaccine. Under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) agreement, our company is adapting and making available some of our existing manufacturing sites to accelerate manufacturing efforts for the vaccine and enable more timely delivery and administration.
> Under the terms of the agreement, the companies plan to establish manufacturing suites at Lonza’s facilities in the United States and Switzerland for the manufacture of mRNA-1273 at both sites. Technology transfer is expected to begin in June 2020, and the companies intend to manufacture the first batches of mRNA-1273 at Lonza U.S. in July 2020.
> AstraZeneca and IDT Biologika also intend to strengthen Europe’s vaccine manufacturing capability with a joint investment to build large additional drug substance capacity for the future. Details of the agreement are to be finalised. Both companies plan to invest in capacity expansion at IDT Biologika’s production site in Dessau, Germany to build up to five 2,000-litre bioreactors capable of making tens of millions of doses per month of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. The new assets are estimated to be operational by the end of 2022.
We want if there are safer options. Not all vaccines are equal. Important question is why we unable to scale up production of mRNA vaccines?