US signs contract for 100 million doses of potential COVID-19 vaccine
Published:Wednesday | July 22, 2020 | 9:55 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will pay Pfizer nearly $2 billion for a December delivery of 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine the pharmaceutical company is developing, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced Wednesday.
The US could buy another 500 million doses under the agreement, Azar said.
“Now those would, of course, have to be safe and effective” and approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Azar said during an appearance on Fox News.
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced separately that the agreement is with HHS and the Defense Department for a vaccine candidate the companies are developing jointly.
It is the latest in a series of similar agreements with other vaccine companies.
The agreement is part of President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine programme, under which multiple COVID-19 vaccines are being developed simultaneously.
The programme aims to deliver 300 million doses of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine by January 2021.
Under the initiative, the government will speed development and buy vaccines — before they are deemed safe and effective — so that the medication can be in hand and quickly distributed once the FDA approves or authorises its emergency use after clinical trials.
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