KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Pfizer pharmaceuticals laboratory in Chesterfield, Missouri, has produced a COVID-19 vaccine on an accelerated timeline, which started human trials last week.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson used most of his daily press briefing Thursday to discuss the development of the vaccine in the St. Louis area.
“This trial is part of a global development program,” Christine Smith, vice president of Pfizer BioTherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences, said.
U.S. trials started last week and the first dosing also took place last week in Germany.
Smith said the expected 12- to 18-month timeline for development of a vaccine has been accelerated because the usually sequential protocols have been suspended.
Rather than advancing step-by-step through the vaccine development process, “we’re doing a lot in parallel,” Smith said. “We have open communication and collaboration with regulatory authorities.”
She also said open communication with suppliers has helped expedite the process.
The company expects to be able to produce millions of doses by the end of the year, if one of the vaccine candidates proves viable, and believes it can produce hundreds of millions of doses in 2021.
Pfizer’s vaccine trial is one of dozens underway as companies and academic research institutions work to bring a vaccine to the market as quickly as possible.
The company’s BNT162 Vaccine Program manufactures the synthetic template for Pfizer’s Messenger RNA Vaccine at the St. Louis-area research and development facility.
Four candidates of the MRNA vaccine, which prompts cells to produce protein antigens that stimulate an immune response effective against COVID-19, are being tested.
Parson said development of a vaccine will be necessary for his administration to feel completely safe amid COVID-19.
“I’m sure insurance would be involved with that, but it would be premature for me to say it would be free for everyone in the state of Missouri,” Parson said.
He said the first step remains to get a vaccine available.
“We’ll figure out how to pay for it from there,” Parson said.
Asked if county commissions should usurp authority from county health departments with regard to decisions about when to reopen businesses, which one Missouri legislator has suggested with introduction of a new bill, Parson counseled caution.
He said the system in place has worked well and he doesn’t think overreacting over 60 days of hardship is warranted.
Parson said his staff will continue to monitor the number of infections, number of hospitalizations and available testing, which are among the indicators that will determine how quickly Missouri moves forward, or possibly steps back, from reopening plans.
“We are pleased with how well the reopening has gone this week, and we remain optimistic about the future today,” Parson said.
He visited a Hy-Vee grocery store and Orscheln Farm and Home store in Jefferson City on Thursday morning and praised the job businesses have done working to protect employees and customers.
Parson noted that hospitalizations are down 17% since peaking in Missouri in early April, though he noted there has yet to be “a steep decline in St. Louis” but said there’s a noticeable flattening.
He also downplayed the rising numbers of cases in Missouri, which are approaching 9,500 with nearly 450 deaths, saying “the vast majority of these people are recovering or have already recovered.”
Parson, who said he has not been tested for coronavirus and has never felt the need to be tested, will not conduct a briefing Friday. He will be in southwest Missouri conducting one-on-one interviews.
Daily press briefings will resume Monday, Parson said.