US to pay Pfizer, BioNTech nearly $2bn for COVID-19 vaccines

The Trump administration will pay Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech SE nearly $2bn for a December delivery of 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine the pharmaceutical companies are developing, the United States Department of Health and Human Services announced on Wednesday.
The US could buy another 500 million doses under the agreement.
The deal is part of President Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed vaccine programme, under which multiple COVID-19 vaccines are being developed simultaneously. The programme aims to deliver 300 million doses of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine by January 2021.
Under the initiative, the government will hasten development and buy vaccines - before they are deemed safe and effective - so that the medication can be in hand and quickly distributed once the FDA approves or authorises its emergency use after clinical trials.
"Through Operation Warp Speed, we are assembling a portfolio of vaccines to increase the odds that the American people will have at least one safe, effective vaccine as soon as the end of this year," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement.
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE announced separately that the agreement is with HHS and the defence department for a vaccine candidate the companies are developing jointly. It is the latest in a series of similar agreements with other vaccine companies.
Pfizer and BioNTech said the US will pay $1.95bn upon receipt of the first 100 million doses it produces, following FDA authorisation or approval.
Americans will receive the vaccine for free, the companies said.
Azar said the contract brings to five the number of potential coronavirus vaccines that are under development with US funding. Nearly two dozen are in various stages of human testing around the world, with several entering final tests to prove if they really work.
Trump said on Tuesday at a briefing that "the vaccines are coming, and they're coming a lot sooner than anyone thought possible, by years".
As early as next week, a vaccine created by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc is set to begin final-stage testing in a study of 30,000 people to see if it is safe and effective. A few other vaccines have begun smaller late-stage studies in other countries, and in the US studies are planned to begin each month through fall (autumn) in hopes of, eventually, having several vaccines to use.
Pfizer is finishing an earlier stage of testing to determine which of four possible candidates to try in a larger, final study.