AstraZeneca to open new Covid-19 vaccine facility in Germany to boost production process

AstraZeneca has revealed its plans to build a new Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing facility in partnership with IDT Biologika at the German firm’s Dessau site. This comes intending to speed up the production process. According to the reports by The Guardian, the two companies said that they were exploring options to ramp up the process in the second quarter as this will help in speeding up Europe’s vaccine rollout. 

New facility in Germany 

Also, they plan to build up to five 2,000-litre bioreactors, which are capable of making tens of millions of doses a month of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine. However, the new facility will not be in use until next year. As per the reports by The Guardian, Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca’s chief executive said that the agreement will help Europe build an independent vaccine manufacturing capability. It will further allow it to meet the challenges of the pandemic and also create a strategic supply capacity for future purposes. 

Earlier, Germany's health minister Jen Spahn said that he wants to secure new COVID-19 vaccines for the year 2022 and give a boost to the inoculation drive.  According to the reports by AP he said as of now it is not clear when the boost will be needed. This comes after the German government faced criticism for the sluggish start to the country's vaccination campaign. 

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In the official press release, Minister-President of the state North Rhine-Westphalia Armin Laschet and Health Minister Jens Spahn said that this was ‘a good signal’ before the vaccination summit. Laschet said, “Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia as a location for research, business and chemistry can be funded”. He added, “I would like us to see how important it is not to depend on world markets at such a moment, but to produce independently. In this respect, it is a double good day for Germany”. 

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Vaccinate all by September 

The German government has pledged to vaccinate all its citizens by September. Health Minister Jens Spahn said, “We could carry on like last week -- council leaders criticize governors and state ministers, state ministers criticize federal ministers and the federal government, the federal government criticizes the European Commission and all criticize the manufacturers. The virus is the enemy, the opponent, and no one else. We all have responsibility and we are responsible above all for doing better”.

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(Image Credits: AP)