US to pay $2 Billion approx. to Pharma Companies for COVID 19 Vaccine

The US Government has decided to pay Pfizer and BioNTech SE $1.95 billion to procure 100 million doses of their COVID 19 vaccine being experimented in order to provide the medicine free of cost to the Americans.

This comes on the backdrop of the rising number of cases of the deadly virus in the USA and also the same trend all around the world. Around 15177477 people have been infected in this virus and 621890 people have already succumbed to it, worldwide. It is quite natural that several companies are trying to develop a vaccine to cure this deadly virus.

As per the current agreement, the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Defense Department will receive 100 million doses of the vaccine should it be cleared by the regulators and there is a provision to procure an additional 500 million doses as well. The whole deal has been pegged at $1.95 billion.

Background

The US Government started the Operation Warp Speed Program in order to help people get rid of this deadly virus and as part of this agreement, the government has already entered into several agreements with a number of vaccine developers that includes $1.2 billion deal with AstraZeneca PLC for 300 million doses of a vaccine and $1.6 billion agreement with Novavax Inc.

The US is committed to delivering a few hundred million doses of COVID 19 vaccine under the ‘Warp Speed Program’ by the end of the year.

The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines are ready to start the 30000 person study in July and if the test becomes successful, both the companies will seek emergency use authorization or regulatory approval as soon as possible so that the medicines can be made accessible in the market for common people.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2020