COVID-19: Pfizer nears deal with Trump admin, will ship 100 mn additional vaccine doses

On December 22, the Trump administration struck a deal with Pfizer for an additional 100 million doses and more purchases to be made in 2021 under Operation Warp Speed (OWS), bringing the current total purchase to 200 million vials. The additional dosages will be delivered to the US by the second quarter of July 31, 2021, and more supplies to be procured by the third and fourth quarters to vaccinate more Americans, according to the deal still in the making. The Trump administration plans to invoke the Defense Production Act to procure raw materials in order to start the production of the additional vaccine supplies at its local manufacturing facilities, sources familiar with the development informed New York Times. According to Pfizer’s official release, the US government has agreed to pay $1.95 billion in order to procure a vaccine to inoculate another 100 milling population in the second quarter of 2021. 

“With these 100 million additional doses, the United States will be able to protect more individuals and hopefully end this devastating pandemic more quickly,” said Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer said in a statement.

“We look forward to continuing our work with the US government and healthcare providers around the country,” he added.

The agreement was discussed in July 2020 to further expand the US vaccine supply for delivery in the second quarter of 2021. “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,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a release. Meanwhile, Ugur Sahin, M.D., CEO and Co-founder of BioNTech said, that the expansion of purchase of the Pfizer vaccine depicts the confidence and trust of the Trump administration in the Pfizer vaccine. 

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70 million to be delivered in June 2021

Under the contract, the US will procure at least 70 million of the additional doses by June 30, 2021, and the remaining 30 million doses to be delivered by the July 31, 2021 deadline. All US citizens will receive the vaccine for free, according to the US  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which is now planning the vaccine’s phased rollout across different states. Earlier, the US HHS secured an additional 100 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 mRNA-1273 vaccine candidate. US Health and Human Services announced that the Trump administration doubled the order of the total vaccine shots it initially committed to purchasing from the pharmaceutical company Moderna Inc. in an order worth $1.65 billion.

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