Keeping?
Yeah, good one.
Natural immunity has been shown to be the best kind. Vaccinate the old, let everyone else get it
If supply stays constant at approx 40k doses per week are we going to see a slowdown in the rate of people being vaccinated when we have to start administering the 2nd dose?
BioNTech/Pfizer to boost Covid vaccine supplies by 500m doses
BioNTech and Pfizer plan to supply an additional 500m doses of their Covid-19 vaccine this year thanks to a new factory in Germany and adjusted European guidelines that allow for an extra shot to be extracted from each vial.
The companies had originally pledged to make 1.5bn doses of their jab in 2021 but now intend to provide as many as 2bn doses, BioNTech said in a statement.
The new production total “is based on continuous process improvements and expansion at the current facilities, and contingent upon adding more suppliers as well as contract manufacturers,” it said.
In addition to extra production from a new facility in Marburg, due to begin next month, European supplies have been boosted by a decision last week from the EU regulator to follow the US and UK in allowing a sixth dose to be extracted from each vial.
Previously, the small containers were only licensed to be diluted into five doses in the EU but healthcare workers had noticed there was excess material left that was going to waste. BioNTech said it had shipped almost 33m doses of the vaccine so far from six manufacturing sites in the US and Europe. The shot has been approved by regulators in the UK, US, EU and more than 40 other countries.
Moderna, whose vaccine has also won approval in the UK, US and EU, has said it will produce between 600m and 1bn doses in 2021. BioNTech and Pfizer have already sold more than 1bn of the doses to be produced this year but hundreds of millions of doses remain available for purchase, given the increased production target. Last week, the European Commission announced it had reached an agreement to increase its BioNTech/Pfizer order from 300m doses to 600m. The UK has ordered 40m doses of the jab, Japan has 120m, while the US has the option to buy up to 600m. The companies are still in discussion with the World Health Organization’s Covax programme to supply the vaccine to the developing world, although no agreement has been reached.
The BioNTech/Pfizer shot needs to be kept at minus 70C during transit, making it more difficult to distribute in countries without existing cold-chain infrastructure. The companies have advised the vaccine requires two doses 21 days apart to deliver the strongest protection. But several countries, starting with the UK, have indicated they plan to delay the injection of the second dose in order to inoculate more people with one dose more quickly. Although the move is not supported by BioNTech or Pfizer, data from the companies’ phase 3 trials, which involved more than 43,000 people in six countries, demonstrated that participants gained partial protection from the vaccine as early as 12 days after the first dose.
The German health ministry has asked the country’s vaccination commission “to review and evaluate the available data and studies and to issue a recommendation on this issue”, while Joe Biden’s team have said they will consider a similar scheme in the US.
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We’ll find out in 2 weeks I guess 
You’d imagine not. No consent issues or rigmarole for 2nd dose and it’s mostly in situ at either the homes or the hospital.
It’s more a case of 40k people vaccinated this week, will be the same 40k people vaccinated in two weeks, so no increase in overall no. vaccinated
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but there will be 40k first dose vaccinations as well. At least I hope there is
Not if we only have 40k a week coming in, there’s the 40k they are holding in reserve but after that we will be using the next 40k etc etc
Surely they would need to have updated their game by then as they are telling us supply is the constraint so they should be able to increase their game with a buffer in stock and increase in supply level
That’s assuming there’s no increase to supply which there won’t be in the next few weeks
There could be in February, sounds like the new Pfizer production will start then. They will have Moderna doses as well.
Moderna is coming on shortly is it not?
First batch is due this week. Approx. 4k doses.
Pfizer are vaccinating staff at their Cork, Dublin and Kildare plants. 3k people who cannot work from home.
A spokeswoman for Pifzer said today: “Pfizer has begun offering on-site vaccinations against Covid-19 to its site-essential employees, for example in manufacturing, who are critical to the vaccine effort and the continued supply of all Pfizer medicines.
“Ensuring supply of our medicines and continuation of critical research and development work across therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, is a priority for global health, particularly given the current burden on health systems around the world as a result of Covid-19.
“Site-essential employees are those based at our manufacturing and R&D sites whose presence is required at a Pfizer location to ensure supply of our medicines and vaccines, the continuation of critical research and development programmes, and to maintain and keep secure our labs and buildings.
“Vaccination of site-essential employees started this week at our manufacturing sites in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Puurs, Belgium. We will expand to other Pfizer sites on a rolling basis. There are approximately 15,000 employees and contractors across Pfizer sites in the EU who are considered site-essential.
“The vaccine doses to be used for this programme are separate and distinct from those committed by Pfizer to governments around the world and will not impact supply to national governments in any way.”
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Nice little 3k bonus for Egghead to add to his tally
Presumably the numbers in all countries must be “vaccine doses administered” rather than vaccination completed then surely not?
What do we want? - 35k a week.
When do we want it? Last week.
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I’m struggling to locate the vaccine numbers on the COVID Data Hub.
@Copper_pipe they did say they’d put them up there didn’t they?
Ashtoush is most definitely working on it very immediately Mr Tinnion. He will most definitely have a successful outcome for you this week.
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How many vaccines did we get done last week anyone know?