France To Start Packaging Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines In Normandy - Facility Head

France will soon begin packaging of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccines as early as Wednesday as the country struggles to compensate for shortfall in supply by major vaccine producers, the head of the Delpharm factory Stephane Lepeu said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th April, 2021) France will soon begin packaging of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccines as early as Wednesday as the country struggles to compensate for shortfall in supply by major vaccine producers, the head of the Delpharm factory Stephane Lepeu said.

"Our client sends us the vaccine, we are responsible for filling it into sterile vials," Lepeu told Le Figaro.

According to the French newspaper, the country has invested 20 million Euros (some $24 million) in equipment, half of which is financed by the state, and the French company has recruited around 50 people at its Normandy site. While France will not be producing the vaccine itself, it will be receiving the substance and packaging it.

Lepeu explained that the vaccine substance will arrive to the factories at -70�C and the product will have to be sent further the supply chain at this temperature. She added that "several tens of millions of doses" will be packaged in France by the end of the year.

Delpharm, which has 12 factories in the country and is one of the world's top pharmaceutical subcontractors had to purchase millions of sterile vials and caps that were due to run out in fall because of global demand. In addition to that, the factory had also to purchase large amounts of dry ice, because Pfizer has to be stored in very low temperatures.

Multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi also plans to mobilize its Marcy-l'Étoile site, near Lyon, which will participate in the production of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine vials at a rate of around 12 millions doses per month. In the second half of the year, if production trials are successful, the company will even start producing its own vaccines.

So far, seven French factories are expected to participate this year in the production of COVID19 vaccines and contribute to the manufacture of around 250 million doses.