But Pfizer also has ties to Operation Warp Speed after signing a contract to supply 100 million doses of its vaccine, with the government the possibility of acquiring an additional 500 million doses. Pfizer and BioNTech declined to comment on the awards. A spokesman for the European Commission, which negotiates vaccination agreements on behalf of member states, also declined to comment. Albert Bourla, President and CEO of Pfizer, said: “Since the beginning of the pandemic, Pfizer has focused on developing a safe and effective vaccine, while extending our production to the dose by the end of the year. Although Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca have decided to license the production of their vaccines in other parts of the world, the scope of these licenses will be limited and many countries will be forced to negotiate their own purchase of the vaccine individually. The use of these licenses would require many countries to negotiate with the pharmaceutical company on a drug basis, an approach that is both tedious and costly. Since developed countries have already provided much of the expected production of vaccines, countries that are not allowed to wait even longer for access to the vaccine may have to wait longer. The experimental drug, developed in collaboration with The German BioNTech, is the leader in a global race to produce a vaccine. Intermediate data released Monday show that, in a large-scale clinical trial, it was more than 90 percent effective in protecting people from COVID-19. Pfizer and BioNTech have reached an agreement with the European Commission to supply 200 million doses of BNT162b2 RNA from the IMPFSTOFF auditory candidate against the SARS coV-2 virus, which is the origin of Covid-19.
BioNTech reported this week that the size of orders would affect the price per dose in developed countries and said it would distinguish prices between countries or regions for its vaccine potential. The analysis also included a simultaneous review of the available security data by the Independent Data Security Authority (DSMB), which did not report any major safety issues with regard to the vaccine. The proposal originally put forward by South Africa and India will be formally presented to the Council next month to give countries greater political leeway to access covid 19 treatments and vaccines. It has now received support from a large number of countries, including Kenya, Eswatini, Mozambique, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Indonesia, Egypt, Cuba, Tanzania (on behalf of the African Group), Venezuela, Nigeria and Bangladesh. “Until all necessary levels are completed and a vaccine is approved for use by the drug regulator, MHRA, the public must continue to take the necessary steps to protect themselves and their loved ones, including respect for hands, faces, space councils and other public health boards in accordance with the area in which they live,” the government said in a statement yesterday. Pfizer and BioNTech are currently projected to produce up to 50 million doses of vaccines this year and up to 1.3 billion doses worldwide next year. The EU has already signed supply contracts with AstraZeneca, Sanofi and Johnson and Johnson for its experimental covid-19 jabs and is in discussions with Moderna, CureVac and Novavax to secure its vaccines. All these logistical barriers make the mandatory licensing process little used (except for HIV/AIDS treatments), even in less urgent settings, and are therefore not enough to increase the production of COVID-19 therapies and vaccines.
