E.U. to Purchase Hundreds of Millions of Does of Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine

Pfizer and BioNTech, the companies that recently announced their experimental coronavirus vaccine is 90% effective, has signed a distribution agreement with the European Union for 200 million doses of the vaccine.

The Hill reported that the European Commission would distribute the vaccine. In light of Pfizer’s vaccine trials and other companies such as Eli Lilly’s antibody treatment, many are hopeful a successful vaccine will be available by the middle of 2021.

“Since the onset of the pandemic, Pfizer’s priority has been to develop a safe and effective vaccine, while simultaneously scaling up our manufacturing to deliver doses before the end of the year. This is an ambitious goal but critical to halting this global pandemic,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.

“Today’s finalized supply agreement with the European Commission represents the largest initial order of vaccine doses for Pfizer and BioNTech to date and a major step toward our shared goal of making a COVID-19 vaccine available to vulnerable populations,” he added.

Many European countries, faced with a second wave, has been initiating localized lockdowns.