The pharma company is planning to invest up to $40m at its Grange Castle site and will recruit for an additional 75 roles.
Ireland is to start manufacturing the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in a move that will create 75 new jobs in Dublin.
Pfizer said today (19 May) that it is bringing on an additional facility in Europe to be part of the vaccine supply chain network, and that its facility at Grange Castle in Dublin will soon contribute to the global supply.
The Currency reported yesterday that Pfizer was advancing plans to begin manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines in Ireland.
The pharma giant has now confirmed that its Grange Castle facility will produce the mRNA vaccine. On-site development, equipment installation and regulatory approvals will be needed, but the company is expecting the facility to be part of its Covid vaccine network by the end of 2021.
Up to $40m will be invested in Grange Castle and Pfizer will be recruiting for an additional 75 roles.
“This is a very significant moment for Ireland and for our Grange Castle site. We are immensely proud to be able to play a part in manufacturing Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine,” said Dr Paul Duffy, VP of Pfizer Global Supply.
“Since last year, Pfizer in partnership with BioNTech has worked tirelessly to expedite the development, approval and scale-up of our Covid-19 vaccine. The company has continually expanded manufacturing capability and external partnerships to deliver increased doses to the world to help defeat this devastating pandemic.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, TD, welcomed the news on Twitter.
“Not only will the $40m investment create 75 new jobs at Grange Castle in Dublin,” he wrote. “It also puts Ireland at the heart of the EU’s fight against the pandemic.”
Pfizer said at the end of last year that it planned to invest around €300m in its Irish operations, creating 300 new roles over the next two to three years at its sites in Dublin, Kildare and Cork. This expansion would bring the company’s total headcount in Ireland to around 4,000.
