WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2021) US vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer will require three years to supply the world with inoculations against COVID-19 at current production levels, former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Tom Frieden said on Tuesday.
"Moderna and Pfizer produced 347 million doses in August. At this rate, it would take them nearly THREE YEARS to meet the global need for effective vaccines. We can't wait that long," Frieden said via Twitter. "It's crucial that Moderna and Pfizer transfer vaccine technology so the world can produce more mRNA vaccines faster."
Both companies have resisted calls to license their vaccine technology to pharmaceutical firms in other nations.
Moderna recently announced plans to build its own plant in Africa. However, analysts have cautioned that single vaccine factory in Africa, which would require two to four years to begin operations, can resolve shortages in the continent of 1.2 billion people.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) recently said only 2 percent of about 6 billion vaccines administered globally have been in Africa.
In a related development, Moderna announced on Tuesday that Gavi, the global vaccine alliance formed in 2020 to help supply low-income nations, had exercised an option to purchase an additional 176.5 million doses.
With the latest order, Moderna said up to 500 million doses of its vaccine will be available through Gavi by the end of 2022.
