Bayer examining if it can help CureVac with COVID-19 vaccine production: CEO

Werner Baumann, CEO of Bayer said that his company is examining whether it can help CureVac to produce its experimental COVID-19 vaccine.

Though inoculation campaigns have started around the world using various COVID-19 vaccines, many countries say their ability to get shots into arms is being limited by lower than expected supplies owing to a shortage of production.

“We are prepared to pull out all the stops for this,” Werner Baumann told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

“This is not primarily about financial considerations but about making the vaccine available as quickly as possible,” he said.

Bayer agreed this month to help CureVac with development of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which is in late-stage clinical trials and has not yet been approved.

“With our production network in Germany and the US and the corresponding lead time, we would in principle be in a position to produce vaccine in larger quantities,” he said.

On Friday, Pfizer said there would be a temporary slowdown of shipments of the vaccine it developed with BioNTech, citing changes in manufacturing processes to boost output.