Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) is prepared to immediately distribute its COVID-19 vaccine after obtaining regulatory approval, according to its chief executive officer.

In an interview with Sky News on Thursday, Pfizer CEO  Dr. Albert Bourla said the pharmaceutical giant has the ability to send out its COVID-19 vaccine “within hours” after receiving approval from regulatory agencies around the world such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Bourla said, “Once they give us the green light, our goal is to start shipping in a couple of hours.”  He added that it takes longer for regulators in some countries to issue approval. Therefore, some will get the COVID-19 earlier and others later.

“The major regulatory authorities of the world listen to each other, but they are powered scientifically. If someone approves faster than the other, then I believe the ethical thing to do is to start sending vaccines to the citizens of this jurisdiction because every day means lives,” according to Bourla.

Bourla said Pfizer already produced more than 20 million doses of it COVID-19 vaccine. He expects the pharmaceutical company to increase that number to 50 million doses by the end of 2020. Its plan is to produce 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is 95% effective

Yesterday, Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) announced that the results of the Phase 3 study showed their mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate is 95% effective in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Pfizer and BionTech said the vaccine’s efficacy is consistent across age, gender, race, and ethnicity demographics. Its efficacy in adults over 65 years of age is more than 94%.

The U.S. pharmaceutical company and the German biotechnology company added that their COVI-19 vaccine achieved the safety data milestone required by FDA for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).

Pfizer and BioNTech plan to submit an application for EUA with the FDA within days and share data with other regulatory agencies around the world.

“The study results mark an important step in this historic eight-month journey to bring forward a vaccine capable of helping to end this devastating pandemic. We continue to move at the speed of science to compile all the data collected thus far and share with regulators around the world,” said Bourla in a statement.

“With hundreds of thousands of people around the globe infected every day, we urgently need to get a safe and effective vaccine to the world,” he added.

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