The $2bn deal will see the extra 100 million doses delivered to the US by July.
The USA authorities can pay Pfizer Inc almost $2bn for 100 million extra doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to bolster its provide because the nation grapples with a nationwide spike in infections.
The corporate will ship at the least 70 million doses by June 30 and the remainder no later than July 31, Pfizer mentioned on Wednesday, bringing the whole variety of doses to 200 million for a complete value of about $4bn.
The brand new deal comes amid a leap in US coronavirus infections that added greater than one million new circumstances in simply six days, in keeping with a Reuters tally.
Greater than 322,000 Individuals have died and there have been at the least 18.2 million reported circumstances within the US, in keeping with numbers compiled by Johns Hopkins College of Drugs.
BREAKING:
The Trump Administration, by way of @HHSGov and @DeptofDefense, will buy an extra 100 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. #OperationWarpSpeed
— Secretary Alex Azar (@SecAzar) December 23, 2020
Pfizer’s vaccines are already being rolled out throughout the US after the shot gained emergency-use authorisation earlier this month.
“This new federal buy may give Individuals much more confidence that we’ll have sufficient provide to vaccinate each American who desires it by June 2021,” US Division of Well being and Human Providers Secretary Alex Azar mentioned in an announcement.
“Securing extra doses from Pfizer and BioNTech for supply within the second quarter of 2021 additional expands our provide of doses throughout the Operation Warp Pace portfolio.”
The federal government additionally has the choice to accumulate as much as an extra 400 million doses of the vaccine.
Greater than 600,000 Individuals have obtained their first COVID-19 vaccine doses as of Monday, in keeping with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC).
The primary wave of pictures have to date gone to healthcare employees and nursing house residents, in addition to some high authorities officers. Individuals in “non-essential” jobs would doubtless have to attend months for his or her flip.