Pfizer and BioNTech have announced a nearly $2 billion agreement with the U.S. government for doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
Under the agreement the companies detailed on Wednesday, the U.S. will get 100 million doses of a COVID-19 candidate after it's manufactured if it receives approval or authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. The U.S. will pay $1.95 billion for doses of the potential vaccine for Americans to receive for free and "also can acquire up to an additional 500 million doses," the announcement said.
"Depending on success in clinical trials, today's agreement will enable the delivery of approximately 100 million doses of this vaccine to the American people," U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said in a statement.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer, recently expressed confidence in the company's coronavirus vaccine candidate, saying in an interview with Time it's "feasible" for it to potentially receive FDA approval in October "if we are lucky." On Wednesday, Pfizer and BioNTech said that depending on how studies of the vaccine go, they aim to "be ready to seek Emergency Use Authorization or some form of regulatory approval as early as October 2020." If that goes forward, they'll look to manufacture up to 100 million doses globally by the end of the year and "potentially more than 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021."
-
Russia’s war games and the threat to NatoIn depth Incursion into Poland and Zapad 2025 exercises seen as a test for Europe
-
Eurovision faces its Waterloo over Israel boycottsTalking Point Five major broadcasters have threatened to pull out of next year’s contest over Israel’s participation
-
What is Donald Trump’s visit worth to the UK economy?In the Spotlight Centrepiece of the president’s trip, business-wise, is a ‘technology partnership’
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreakSpeed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agencySpeed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year highSpeed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sickspeed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last yearspeed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
