The pharmaceutical companies have every incentive to be the first with an approved product. The first one gets to sell as many doses as they can make. The last one out the door has no customers left because the disease is gone. This is for BILLIONS if not tens of billions of dollars. There are 7 billion doses needed worldwide. The first couple companies with a safe and effective product will make a FORTUNE. It’s a race to be on the podium.
I know someone who works at Lonza.
They were contracted by Moderna to actually produce the vaccine at their facility in Portsmouth, NH.
ALL other projects are second to the production of the Maderna Vaccine both here and at their sister facility in the UK.
However, it takes time to actually manufacture(grow) the vaccine. They need certain materials to actually make it. Some of those materials are in short supply because of supply chain disruptions around the world.
This is similar to the fact that the three stores I went to on Friday were all out of Tilex Mildew bathroom cleaner. All three said that they reorder every other day. That their suppliers were all out of it.
This same type of supply chain issue is part of what I am being told is holding up production of some drugs/vaccines.