WASHINGTON: The United States has purchased an additional 100 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19, with the shots set to be delivered by July, the Pentagon announced.
That brings the current US supply of Covid-19 vaccine to 400 million doses – half from Pfizer and half from Moderna – allowing it to immunize 200 million people under the two-shot regimens.
“Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will deliver at least 70 million doses by June 30, 2021, with the balance of the 100 million doses to be delivered no later than July 31, 2021,” the defense department said in a statement.
On Sunday, an expert committee said that people 75 and older should be the next vaccinated along with 30 million “frontline essential workers,” including teachers, grocery store employees and police.
“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,” health secretary Alex Azar said in the statement.
