U.S. to Pay Nearly $2 Billion for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine

HHS and the Department of Defense have signed their largest deal to date under Operation Warp Speed — a $1.95 billion contract with Pfizer and BioNTech for large-scale production and nationwide delivery of 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine.

Under the deal, the government will pay the companies $1.95 billion for an initial 100 million doses of the vaccine following FDA authorization or approval. The contract includes an option to acquire up to an additional 500 million doses.

The vaccines will be available to the American people at no cost, although healthcare providers could charge insurers for the cost of administering the vaccine. Pfizer would begin delivering the doses nationwide under the supervision of the federal government in the fourth quarter of 2020.

It’s not clear which vaccine will be delivered. The companies have been developing four COVID-19 vaccine candidates, two of which were granted Fast Track status from the FDA earlier this month (DID, July 14).

However, the companies have released preliminary phase 1/2 data on their advanced candidate, BNT162b1, showing that it was safe and generated an immune response (DID, July 21). Pfizer and BioNTech are slated to begin phase 2b/3 testing of that lead vaccine later this month and plan to seek regulatory approval as early as October 2020. — Jordan Williams