United Airlines Holdings Inc.
UAL,
-0.74%
on Friday started operating charter flights to get doses of Pfizer Inc.’s
PFE,
+1.91%
and BioNTech SE’s
BNTX,
+4.79%
COVID-19 vaccine ready for quick distribution if the vaccine candidate is approved by regulators, according to a Wall Street Journal report that cited people familiar with the matter. Pfizer and BioNTech last Friday submitted an application for the vaccine trial’s emergency use authorization, making their vaccine candidate the first in line with U.S. regulators. The companies have said the vaccine, called BNT162b2, had an efficacy rate of 95% in a late-stage clinical trial. Pfizer has been laying the groundwork to move quickly if it gets approval from the Food and Drug Administration and other regulators around the world, the Wall Street Journal said. The distribution plan includes existing and additional refrigerated storage sites in the U.S. and Europe in addition to “dozens of cargo flights and hundreds of truck trips each day,” the newspaper said. Shares of Pfizer and United inched around 0.1% each in the extended session Friday.