Pfizer is selling $7.8 billion in Covid shots in the second quarter

July 29, 2021: -On Wednesday, Pfizer said it sold $7.8 billion in Covid-19 doses in the second quarter and raised its 2021 sales forecast for the vaccine to $33.5 billion from $26 billion, as the delta variant spreads and scientists debate if the people will need booster shots.

Pfizer expected an adjusted pretax profit in the high 20% range of revenue for the vaccine.

The company expects full-year earnings for $3.95 to $4.05 per share. That’s up from its prior range of $3.55 to $3.65 per share. It expects revenue in the field of $78 billion to $80 billion, up from its previous estimate of $70.5 billion to $72.5 billion. Shares of Pfizer have dipped 0.4% in premarket trading.

“The second quarter was remarkable in several ways,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement.

“Most visibly, the speed and efficiency of our efforts with BioNTech to help vaccinate the world against COVID-19 have been unprecedented, with now more than a billion doses of BNT162b2 having been delivered globally,” Bourla added.

Other business units of Pfizer also saw strong sales growth. Revenue from its oncology unit increase by 19% year over year to $3.1 billion. The company’s hospital unit generated $2.2 billion in revenue, up 21% from the prior year. Its internal medicine unit increased by 5% from a year ago to $2.4 billion.

Earlier this month, Pfizer saw signs of waning immunity induced by its Covid vaccine with German drugmaker BioNTech and plan to ask the Food and Drug Administration to authorize a booster dose. It also said it is developing a booster dose to target the delta variant.

In slides posted Wednesday alongside its earnings report, Pfizer said it could file for an emergency use authorization for a booster dose with the FDA as early as August. It expects to begin clinical studies testing its delta variant vaccine in the same month. It expects full approval for its two-dose vaccine by January 2022.