(NBC) – The coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have been approved for use in the European Union’s 27 member countries.
The companies say they are ready to immediately ship initial doses of the vaccine from plants in Belgium and Germany.
The vaccines must be kept at ultra-cold temperature, requiring iced boxes for shipment.
European officials say it would take a long time to inoculate 450 million people in the EU countries.
Mass vaccinations are expected to start there just after Christmas.
The European Union gave official approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Monday.
Top BioNTech executive Sean Marret in Germany said they are working to boost production next year beyond their original goal. He explained, “What we said is that our base case plan is up to 1.3 billion doses that we would produce. Of course, we are looking at ways of boosting that if we can. It’s important for us to manufacture as many doses as we can next year and to support everyone getting back to as normal life as they can.”
BioNTech says it’s confident its COVID-19 vaccine will work against the new strains that are appearing around the world. But more studies are needed to confirm that.
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