The European Commission has agreed to purchase at least 200 million doses of Pfizer’s experimental coronavirus vaccine.
The deal includes an option to purchase an additional 100 million doses.
"As a company founded in the heart of Europe, we are looking forward to supplying millions of people upon regulatory approval," BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin wrote in a statement.
Pfizer, which expects to produce up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021, on Monday announced its vaccine, developed with BioNTech, was found to be more than 90% effective. The company is expecting to submit data to the European Medicines Agency as early as next week.
“This is the most promising vaccine so far,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU’s executive arm, told The Associated Press. “Once this vaccine becomes available, our plan is to deploy it quickly, everywhere in Europe.”
The European Commission had already secured three other deals with pharmaceutical companies allowing its 27 member states to buy nearly one billion doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine.
“And more will come. Because we need to have a broad portfolio of vaccines based on different technologies,” von der Leyen said. “We have already started working with member states to prepare national vaccination campaigns. We are almost there. In the meantime, let us be prudent, and stay safe.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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