UK Receives 30 Million Doses of BioNTech/Pfizer Experimental Vaccine and 60 Million Dose Deal
While no active vaccine against COVID-19 has been developed, there are currently three different types of vaccines to order in Britain, with a total of 230 million possible doses.
This new partnership with some of the world's leading pharmaceutical and vaccine companies will provideThe United Kingdom has the best chance of getting a vaccine that protects those most at risk.
Alok Sharma, Minister for Business in the UK
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
New deals follow previously announcedan agreement with AstraZeneca (AZN.L) that the firm will produce 100 million doses of its potential vaccine, which is being developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford.
Britain said it was the first such deal that Pfizer and BioNTech have agreed to supply their vaccine, which is being tested in its early and middle stages.
Firms aim to make up to 100 million doses by the end of this year and possibly over 1.2 billion doses by the end of 2021 if the vaccine is successful.
The BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine uses a so-called Messenger RNA (RNA messenger) approach, as opposed to the more traditional inactivated whole virus vaccine being developed by Valneva.
A potential Valneva vaccine is still in preclinical trials. The company intends to move to clinical trials by the end of 2020.
The UK also said it has provided a treatment containing COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies from AstraZeneca (AZN.L) to protect people who cannot be vaccinated.
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