Trump Administration to Pay Big Bucks for Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine

WASHINGTON, KOMPAS.com — The Trump administration will be paying Pfizer nearly $2 billion for 100 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine the pharmaceutical company is developing.

The news was shared by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday. He added that the shipment for the Covid-19 vaccine will be for December.

Furthermore, the government would allow the US government to purchase an extra 500 million doses of the potential vaccine.

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“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 program, under which multiple Covid-19 vaccines are being developed simultaneously.

The program aims to deliver 300 million doses of a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine by January 2021.

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