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The distribution of coronavirus vaccines in low-income countries could soon receive a huge boost. On Thursday, two sources familiar with the matter said Reuters this Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) have agreed to provide a program co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO) with their COVID-19 vaccine.
The COVAX program is a group effort coordinated by WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The program aims to secure 2 billion doses by the end of this year to protect vulnerable people and frontline health workers in participating countries. Any country can participate, but the program plans to deliver approximately 1.3 billion doses to 92 low- and middle-income countries.
Image source: Getty Images.
Details regarding the number of doses agreed to by Pfizer and BioNTech and the price per dose that the COVAX program intends to pay to partners are still unclear. Neither company has officially announced an agreement to supply COVAX, but they are expected to fill the gaps on Friday.
It will not be the first vaccine authorized in some countries to be secured by the COVAX program. In December, the COVAX program entered into an early purchase agreement with AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN) for 170 million doses of a candidate coronavirus which has been approved for use in the UK and India. Johnson & johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has also entered into an agreement with the program to deliver 500 million doses of its single-dose vaccine candidate, which is expected to yield advanced clinical trial data overnight.
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