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Biontech employee in the laboratory: More speed in vaccine production
Photo: BIONTECH SE / HANDOUT / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
After the planned production facility in Marburg, the corona vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer will soon also be manufactured in Halle, Westphalia.
The US pharmaceutical company Baxter has received a corresponding order for its plant in Halle in Westphalia, said the head of personnel at the plant, Jürgen Fleischer, on Wednesday of the dpa.
The start of production is expected to be in March.
Fleischer did not want to give any figures, but it is supposed to be an order in the three-digit million amount for vaccination doses that should be processed within 18 months.
Up until now, Baxter has mainly produced cancer drugs in Halle.
A production line will now be converted for the production of the vaccines.
Just a few days ago, the Mainz-based company Biontech and its US partner Pfizer announced that they would manufacture up to two billion doses of their corona vaccine in 2021.
The companies had previously targeted 1.3 billion cans.
Biontech also wants to manufacture vaccines in its own factory in Marburg in order to increase production capacity.
In order to improve the vaccine supply, the federal and state governments agreed at their last top-level meeting to increasingly look for further production sites.
Both Chancellor Angela Merkel and Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder had indicated state support for this.
Around 800 people are employed in the factory in Halle.
Another corona vaccine is to be produced there in the future: The Baxter headquarters in the USA announced on Monday that a vaccine developed by the US company Novavax would be produced in Halle.
But this vaccine has not yet been approved, said Fleischer.
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zob / Reuters / dpa