Benzinga | Mar 5, 2021 09:01AM EST

WHO, SII Warn Of Raw Materials Shortage For COVID-19 Shots, Cites US Law As 'Serious' Limit:' Bloomberg

* The head of Serum Institute of India (SII) and the World Health Organization's chief scientist said that COVID-19 vaccine makers are amid a global shortage of the raw materials to manufacture the shots, Bloomberg reported.

* SII's CEO Adar Poonawalla told a World Bank panel that a U.S. law blocking the export of certain key items, including bags and filters, will likely cause serious bottlenecks.

* WHO's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan also added that there is a shortfall of required vials, glass, plastic, and stoppers.

* SII, the largest vaccine maker, is licensed to produce COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca Plc (NASDAQ: AZN) and Novavax Inc (NASDAQ: NVAX).

* Those supply disruption concerns have cropped up after the Biden administration announced plans to use the Defense Production Act to boost supplies needed for Pfizer Inc's (NYSE: PFE) vaccines.

* "There is a shortage of materials, of products that you need for the manufacturing of vaccines," said Swaminathan. "This is where again you need global agreement and coordination not to do export bans."

* Last month, Financial times discussed vaccine manufacturers' struggle to secure supplies of giant plastic bags used in bioreactors that mix pharmaceutical ingredients, thus creating a bottleneck, resulting in more vaccine rollout delays.

* WHO will hold meetings on Monday and Tuesday next week to discuss these issues.

* Price Action: PFE shares are up 0.3% at $34.31 in premarket trading on the last check Friday.