The European Commission (EC) said on Thursday that they signed a third contract with the pharmaceutical companies BioNTech and Pfizer and that it has reserved an additional 1.8 billion doses on behalf of all EU Member States, from the end of 2021 to 2023.
„It will allow for the purchase of 900 million doses of the current vaccine and of a vaccine adapted to variants, with the option to purchase an additional 900 million doses,” said the EC in a press release.
The Commission explained that the contract required that the vaccine production should be based in the EU and all that essential components are sourced within the EU. The contract also stipulates that from the start of the supply in 2022, the delivery to the EU is guaranteed and timely deliveries of the doses are ensured.
The possibility for Member States to resell or donate doses to countries in need outside the EU or through the COVAX Facility has been reinforced, contributing to a global and fair access to the vaccine across the world.
„This new contract will strengthen the EU vaccine production capacity allowing to serve other markets across the world,” said the Commission.
“With our signature, the new contract is now in force, which is good news for our long term fight to protect European citizens against the virus and its variants! (…) Potential contracts with other manufacturers will follow the same model, to the benefit of all,” said President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
contract with the BioNTech-Pfizer alliance builds upon the broad portfolio of vaccines to be produced in Europe, including the already signed contracts with AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Curevac and Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer itself.