US drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have pledged to provide up to 75 million more doses of their vaccine to the EU in the second quarter of 2021, the German company’s chief financial officer Sierk Poetting said on Monday.
“We are working with pharmaceutical companies to ensure vaccines are delivered to Europeans,” the Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen wrote in a Twitter post, as on Sunday, she held a virtual meeting with the CEOs of vaccine producers, during which, she stressed the need to beware of the new Coronavirus variants.
The meeting, held the context of the bloc’s Vaccines Strategy, included BionNTech/Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Curevac and Sanofi, with which, the EU has signed advance purchase agreements (APA) for vaccines against the virus.
“BioNTech/Pfizer will deliver 75 million of additional doses in the second quarter of the year – and up to 600 millions in total in 2021,” she added.
We are working with pharmaceutical companies to ensure vaccines are delivered to Europeans. #BioNTech/@pfizer will deliver 75 million of additional doses in the second quarter of the year – and up to 600 millions in total in 2021.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 1, 2021
The previous day, British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said it will deliver to the European Union in the first quarter of this year, 9 million more doses of its COVID-19 vaccine developed along with Oxford University, bringing the total amount to 40 million for that period.
