Pfizer to provide up to 40 million doses of Covid vaccine to global Covax program

Pfizer will provide up to 40 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to a global alliance to provide poor countries with coronavirus vaccines, the head of the World Health Organization said on Friday.

The deal will allow Covax – co-led by the WHO – to start delivering vaccine doses to participating countries in February, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing. Tedros added that pending emergency clearance, the program expects 150 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be available for distribution in the first quarter of this year.

The Covax program aims to deliver 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine to participating countries, which include low- and middle-income countries, by the end of this year. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires two injections several weeks apart, indicating that the deal would only cover 20 million people.

Tedros said the deal would also allow other countries with Pfizer vaccines to donate them to the program. The WHO chief criticized wealthy countries for signing supply agreements with drugmakers for their initial doses of Covid-19 vaccines, storing supplies away from poorer countries.

“This is not only important for COVAX, it is a major step forward for equitable access to vaccines, and an essential part of the global effort to defeat this pandemic. We will only be safe everywhere if we are safe everywhere, “Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said in a statement.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told the press conference that the company would provide vaccine doses to Covax and poorer countries at a cost. Pfizer was the first company to receive a global list of emergency uses for its vaccine from the WHO, allowing other countries to speed up their regulatory approval processes to begin administering the vaccine.

Bourla said the company would help deliver the doses, which require ultra-cold storage and special handling, to low-income countries. UNICEF, which helps administer the doses, has previously warned that some of the world’s poorest countries may face difficulties storing and administering vaccines once they arrive.

The program’s deal with Pfizer brings its supply agreements to just over 2 billion doses in total, but it will continue negotiations for additional supply. The goal is to vaccinate healthcare and other frontline workers, as well as some high-risk people, from the first quarter of this year, according to Covax.

The deal follows the United States’ decision to remain a member of the WHO under President Joe Biden. The new administration will also join the Covax program, a move the Trump administration resisted last year.

“I just couldn’t avoid the temptation to say I’m very happy that this press conference is taking place the day the United States joins the WHO organization. I think it’s a big one. symbolic day for us, ”said Bourla, chief executive of Pfizer. said during the briefing.