EU to strike world’s largest vaccine deal with Pfizer
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The European Commission said it expects to seal the world’s biggest vaccine supply deal within days, buying up to 1.8 billion doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for the next few years as a debate rages over unfair access to shots for the world’s poorest people.
The vaccines from the U.S. drugmaker and its German partner BioNTech would be delivered over 2021-2023, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a visit to Pfizer’s vaccine plant in Puurs, Belgium.
The agreement would be enough to inoculate the 450 million EU population for two years and comes as the bloc seeks to shore up long-term supplies.
This is the third contract agreed by the bloc with the two companies, which have already agreed to supply 600 million doses of the two-dose vaccine this year under two previous contracts.
Brussels is aiming to inoculate at least 70% of EU adults by July.
The move comes as the Commission looks to sever ties with AstraZeneca after the drugmaker slashed its delivery targets due to production problems. On Friday it was deciding whether to take legal action against the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company.
An EU official said the supply deal was agreed in principle but that both sides needed a few days to iron out final terms.
“We will conclude in the next days. It will secure the doses necessary to give booster shots to increase immunity,” von der Leyen said at a briefing at the Puurs factory.