Pfizer expects $15 bln in COVID-19 vaccine sales

The financial impact of the COVID-19 vaccine was front and center as Pfizer released its quarterly results on Tuesday.

Pfizer expects to see a $15 billion bounce in sales this year from the vaccine it developed with its German partner BioNTech.

The drugmaker is racing to deliver two billion doses this year as countries sign up for one of the first vaccines approved to combat a pandemic that has killed over 2 million people globally.

The COVID-19 vaccine brought in $154 million in sales for the drugmaker in the fourth quarter... but that was just a fraction of the roughly $12 billion in company revenues, since the vaccine was only approved in the closing weeks of the quarter.

Overall, fourth-quarter profits came in below expectations.

But Pfizer raised its full-year guidance for 2021 due to the expected financial benefits from the vaccine rollout.

As for fears Pfizer's current COVID-19 vaccine won't work as effectively on new variants that have emerged, Pfizer says it is prepared to tweak the vaccine to make sure that doesn't happen.