EU orders extra 200 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine
German drugmaker BioNTech on Wednesday announced that the European Union will buy an additional 200 million doses of its Coronavirus vaccine, that will be delivered in the second quarter of 2021.
“We will initiate production at our Marburg facility this month and have strengthened our manufacturing network with additional partners. We are continuing to evaluate, together with governments, authorities, and partners at all levels, how we might address an even higher future supply requirement for our vaccines,” said Dr. Ugur Sahin, the co-founder of BioNTech.
He added that along with US drugmaker Pfizer, they have taken additional steps to boost their production capacity in Europe.
“This afternoon, I will be signing a second EU Commission contract with BioNTech/Pfizer for up to an additional 300 million COVID-19 vaccine doses,” the bloc’s health chief Stella Kyriakides tweeted on Wednesday.
The new agreement between Pfizer/BioNTech and the European Commission brings total supply to the EU to 500 million doses, with an option for an additional 100 million doses.
✅ This afternoon, I will be signing a second @EU_Commission contract with @BioNTech_Group/@pfizer for up to an additional 300 million #COVID19 vaccine doses. This follows up on our 8 January agreement reached with the company.
➡️ https://t.co/gZu4eQADJg— Stella Kyriakides (@SKyriakidesEU) February 17, 2021
