Novavax Admits Supply Shortages Will Delay Vaccine Production

Novavax said it does not expect to hit its target of manufacturing 150 million COVID-19 vaccine doses per month until the third quarter of this year.

The production delay is caused in part by problems with the bioreactors used to grow cells needed for manufacturing the vaccine.

The supply snag comes at a bad time for the Gaithersburg, Md., drugmaker, which could receive UK authorization for the vaccine as soon as this month, followed by possible authorization for emergency use in the U.S. in May after the company releases data from a phase 3 U.S. study.