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Pfizer, BioNTech reach $1.95 billion covid-19 vaccine deal with U.S. government

The contract is the largest yet under the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed program, and will start with 100 million doses.

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July 22, 2020 at 7:23 p.m. EDT
Pfizer and BioNTech will supply the federal government with 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccine under a deal announced Wednesday. The administration also has the option to acquire an additional 500 million doses. (Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg)

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotechnology firm BioNTech will supply the federal government with 100 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine under a $1.95 billion deal announced Wednesday, the administration’s largest investment yet in a vaccine that has not been proved effective.

The government also has an option to acquire an additional 500 million doses of BNT162, as the vaccine candidate is called. It still must secure regulatory approval or authorization that Pfizer projects it may seek as early as October.