U.S., Pfizer Reach Agreement for 100 Million More COVID-19 Vaccine Shots

The U.S. and Pfizer have agreed to another vaccine supply deal that will net the government an additional 100 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine in summer 2021.

Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine is currently being administered to healthcare workers and nursing home residents around the country, but concerns had been raised that the U.S. had not secured enough doses of the highly effective vaccine, the first one to be authorized for emergency use by the FDA.

The $1.95 billion deal, which will essentially double the country’s stocks of the vaccine, locks in Pfizer to deliver at least 70 million additional shots by June 30, 2021, with the remainder to be delivered no later than July 31. It also leaves the U.S. government with the option to purchase 400 million additional doses, the drugmaker said.

“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,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar.

Pfizer previously stated that it would likely be able to deliver supplies of 100 million additional doses beginning in the third quarter of 2021 but appears to have been motivated by federal government pressure to provide the supplies starting in the first half of the year.

The government’s second agreement builds upon a previous arrangement with Pfizer, for the same amount of cash and doses, that was reached in July (DID, July 23). Meanwhile, the federal government also has contracted to purchase 200 million doses of the two-dose Moderna vaccine, which the FDA approved for emergency use on Dec. 18.

With the new Pfizer deal, the U.S., with a population of approximately 330.7 million, appears equipped to vaccinate approximately a third of the population with Pfizer’s vaccine by summer, though logistical challenges will still be an issue for distribution. The vaccine, which is based on messenger RNA technology, needs to be shipped and stored at ultra-low temperatures, in contrast to Moderna’s vaccine, which must be frozen at more moderate temperatures and can be kept up to 30 days at standard refrigerator temps.

Pfizer is handling the distribution of its vaccine itself because of its experience in cold-chain shipping and the infrastructure it already has in place, while distribution titan McKesson is handling the distribution of Moderna’s vaccine.

Gen. Gustave Perna, Operation Warp Speed’s head of logistics, said during a press briefing last week that the government has allocated another 2.7 million Pfizer shots and 2 million Moderna shots that will go out for delivery to jurisdictions this week.

The second doses, which are administered 21 days after the first shot, are due to be given to patients soon and will go out this week, Perna said. He noted that the government chose to ensure the supply chain was adequate before sending them out.

"We’ve established an elaborate communications strategy at all levels to make sure everybody’s tracking [second doses]. We’ve worked through different levels of teaching and instructions on how to make sure we’re doing that, and everybody’s informed,” he said. “We’re ahead of the curve and it’s about communications, open, transparent and collaborative, to ensure our success.”

To date, the federal government has allocated a total of 15.5 million doses between the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Perna said. — James Miessler