USA Pledges 500 Million COVID-19 Vaccines to Aid Certain Countries

New York-based Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced plans to provide the U.S. government at a not-for-profit price 500 million doses of the co-produced COVID-19 vaccine. The U.S. government will, in turn, donate these vaccines to low- and lower-middle-income countries and organizations.

These vaccine doses are part of Pfizer and BioNTech’s previously announced pledge to provide two billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to low- and middle-income countries over the next 18 months.

“Today’s agreement underlines that the joint efforts of the private and the public sector are providing solutions to help end this pandemic,” stated Ugur Sahin, M.D., CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech, in a press statement issued on June 10, 2021.

“We are also committed to realizing sustainable solutions by supporting the establishment of manufacturing networks on various continents. Our first step has been the establishment of our Regional Headquarters for southeast Asia in Singapore, which will also include mRNA manufacturing capacities for regional and global supply."

"It is our goal to leverage our proprietary mRNA technology to help improve the health of people around the world.”

Deliveries of the 200 million doses will begin in August 2021 and continue through the remainder of the year. The 300 million doses for 2022 will be delivered between January and the end of June 2022. The U.S. government also has the option for additional doses in 2022, stated today's press release.

Pfizer and BioNTech have an existing agreement to supply vaccine doses to the COVAX Facility, a mechanism established by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and World Health Organization.

Based in Mainz, Germany, Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (BioNTech) is a next-generation immunotherapy company pioneering novel therapies for cancer and other serious diseases.