COVID-19: US govt to buy 100 million extra doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine

Following a new $2 billion deal with the US government, Pfizer and BioNTech will be providing the US with an additional 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by mid-summer. This addition means, the US pharmaceutical company and the German drugmaker will now b delivering a total of 200 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidates to the United States resulting in immunisation of nearly 100 million people against the highly-infectious disease. In a statement, the companies had announced their plan on December 23 and said that all doses are expected to be delivered by July 31, 2021.

The statement said that Pfizer and BioNTech, “today announced a second agreement with the U.S. government to supply an additional 100 million doses of the companies’ COVID-19 Vaccine from production facilities in the U.S. This agreement brings the total number of doses to be delivered to the U.S. to 200 million."

"The companies expect to deliver the full 200 million doses to Operation Warp Speed (OWS) by July 31, 2021. Consistent with the original agreement announced in July 2020, the U.S. government will pay $1.95 billion for the additional 100 million doses," it added.

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US ‘will protect more individuals’

Hailing the deal Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that following the delivery of 200 million doses, will enable the United States ‘to protect more people’ and end up controlling the COVID-19 pandemic more quickly. He also said that the company is willing to work with the US government along with healthcare providers across the nation. In a statement, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Alex Azar noted that the US securing more vaccines has further expanded the government’s supply of doses under the ‘Operation Warp Speed’ portfolio.

“Securing more doses from Pfizer and BioNTech for delivery in the second quarter of 2021 further expands our supply of doses across the Operation Warp Speed portfolio,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “This new federal purchase can give Americans even more confidence that we will have enough supply to vaccinate every American who wants it by June 2021.”

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