Corning Inc. will substantially increase production of glass vials for Covid-19 vaccines after receiving more federal funding, the latest step to meet heavy demand for a vital vaccine component.
The company will use the $57 million in funding from the U.S. government to expand glass-vial manufacturing capabilities, said Brendan Mosher, vice president and general manager of the company’s pharmaceutical technologies business.
Corning now expects to produce 150 million vials this year, a 50% increase from what it previously expected. Altogether, the vials will be able to hold about 1.2 billion doses.
The increased output should help ease tight supplies of the glass vials, which are essential to storing the Covid-19 vaccines that governments have been counting on to help end the pandemic.
Glass vials—and the special medical glass used to make them—have been in heavy demand ever since the pandemic hit.
