Pfizer could have working Covid-19 vaccine before the end of 2020

Pfizer CEO, Albert Boula, has said the drug company could release a Covid-19 vaccine before the year is out.

In an interview with CBS, Bourla stated the company would know where it stands with its potential vaccine by the end of October.

If the vaccine is proven to be safe and effective distribution could begin in America by the end of 2020.

If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the vaccine, Bourla said the company is prepared to distribute "hundreds of thousands of doses".

As a result of the pandemic, drug manufacturing companies and health officials around the world have been accelerating development of a potential vaccine.

The U.S. pharmaceutical giant has been working alongside German drugmaker BioNTech.

In July, the U.S. government announced it would pay the companies $1.95 billion to produce and deliver 100 million doses of their vaccine if it proves safe and effective.

The deal was signed as part of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s effort to accelerate development and production of vaccines and treatments to fight the coronavirus.

Pfizer is one of three companies currently in late-stage testing for a vaccine.

The other two are Moderna and AstraZeneca, which announced Saturday it would resume its trial after temporarily pausing it for safety reasons.

Pfizer’s experimental vaccine contains genetic material called messenger RNA, or mRNA, which scientists hope provokes the immune system to fight the virus.