Still recovering from the coronavirus, the US government has chosen to double its acceptance of the Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech’s (NASDAQ: BNTX) coronavirus vaccine. Both companies announced on Wednesday morning that the federal government has reached an agreement with them to supply an additional 100 million doses of BNT162b2, in addition to the original order for 100 million doses.
The feds will pay $ 1.95 billion for the new order.
Image source: Getty Images.
Pfizer and BioNTech reported that they expect to fulfill the total order for 200 million doses by July 31, 2021. As for the new part of the order, the companies reported that at least 70 million doses will be delivered by the end of June, with the remainder next month.
“This new federal purchase can give Americans even more confidence that we will have enough supplies to vaccinate all Americans who wish by June 2021,” Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Alex Azar told companies.
However, this may not be the end of the government’s commitment. According to the terms of its contract with Pfizer and BioNTech, it has the option to guarantee 400 million additional doses of BNT162b2, if necessary.
Earlier this month, the vaccine received emergency use authorization (USA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The launch was relatively quick; at the moment, some frontline health professionals and senior government officials, such as Vice President Mike Pence, have received their initial vaccines (BNT162b2 is a two-dose vaccine).
While Pfizer’s shares rose sharply (2.1%) in Wednesday’s late afternoon trading, eclipsing S&P 500 index, BioNTech’s shares fell almost 0.8%.