BNTX BioNTech SE

By Peter Loftus, Rebecca Ballhaus and Matt Grossman 

The federal government has reached a deal with Pfizer Inc. to secure 100 million more doses of the company's Covid-19 vaccine, an agreement that will bolster the vaccination campaign under way in the U.S., Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech SE, said Wednesday.

Under the terms of the deal, Pfizer will provide an additional 70 million doses by the end of June, with 30 million to follow by the end of July, the companies said. Pfizer and BioNTech will receive $1.95 billion for the additional doses, consistent with the pricing for the initial supply of the vaccine.

"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," Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said.

In July, the U.S. government agreed to pay Pfizer and BioNTech SE, $1.95 billion for the first 100 million doses of the vaccine, or $19.50 per dose. Following the expansion deal, the government also has the option to acquire up to an additional 400 million doses.

The first vaccine doses started to be distributed in the U.S.this month after the Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine.

But Pfizer had offered to provide additional doses to the government in the summer, and federal officials declined. More recently they began discussions for additional doses.

The Operation Warp Speed chief adviser, Moncef Slaoui, told reporters Monday that the government continued to have conversations with Pfizer "to support their efforts to ensure that they would be able to provide us with an additional 100 million doses in the second quarter of 2021."

In November, Pfizer reduced by half the number of doses it expected to manufacture globally by year's end, to 50 million, partly because of challenges in expanding its manufacturing capabilities and securing raw materials.

The government has already boosted the expected U.S. supply of the second Covid-19 vaccine, from Moderna Inc.

This month the government exercised an option to buy an additional 100 million doses of Moderna's vaccine, doubling the contracted supply to 200 million doses by the end of June 2021.

Moderna's vaccine began distribution this week after receiving FDA authorization.

The federal government agreed to pay $1.5 billion for the first 100 million doses of Moderna's vaccine and $1.65 billion for the additional 100 million doses, and has options to buy more.

Write to Peter Loftus at peter.loftus@wsj.com, Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com and Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 23, 2020 08:21 ET (13:21 GMT)

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