Drug manufacturer Pfizer’s facility in Groton, Connecticut, is one of several that will work toward producing a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year.
The federal government awarded Pfizer and the German company BioNTech nearly $2 billion to develop the vaccine.
Governor Ned Lamont spoke at Pfizer’s Research and Development facility in Groton on Wednesday.
“Pfizer’s one of the lead horses in this race right now. There may be several winners, we need several winners. Developing the vaccine, going through the testing, hoping that we’re gonna have something that’s ready for final FDA approval as early as October. This is warp speed.”
Pfizer officials say the Groton facility is one of four to five sites in the nation working on the vaccine. The facility will help engineer a particle that will be a major component of the vaccine. It’ll also conduct clinical studies on the safety of the vaccine.
John Burkhardt is with Pfizer.
“The science that’s going on here and at other sites around the world that Pfizer owns, where R&D flourishes, together we hope to really change the course of this pandemic.”
Pfizer says if the vaccine works, it could make a hundred million doses by the end of the year.
