This week, the Mainz-based pharmaceutical company BioNTech put into operation one of the largest mRNA vaccine plants in the world. Located in central Hesse, the new production facility is capable of manufacturing eight million doses of coronavirus vaccine every five days! 

BioNTech opens new production facility in Marburg

Last week, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines at BioNTech’s new production facility in Marburg. This means that first batches of the vaccine created in the facility can now be delivered to partner sites to be put into phials, before being distributed to the European Union and countries worldwide. The first delivery of vaccines manufactured in Marburg is expected in the second half of April, 2021. 

Tucked away in a small valley just outside the city, the plant has a production capacity of up to one billion vaccine doses per year, once fully operational - enough to vaccinate all of the citizens of the European Union twice over, and half of the total vaccine production that BioNTech and Pfizer have pledged towards the global fight against COVID-19. 

It takes 50.000 steps to produce BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

It is one of the world’s largest mRNA vaccine manufacturing sites in the world, currently employing 400 BioNTech workers, 200 of whom work in 24 / 7 shifts to maximise production output. In total, it takes a whopping 50.000 steps from manufacturing the mRNA to the bulk drug substance which is then distributed to be put into phials. 

BioNTech plans to be able to produce up to 250 million doses of its vaccine in the first half of 2021. Together with its partner Pfizer, the company is aiming to produce 2,5 billion doses by the end of the year, 25 percent more than initially planned.