Pfizer: The United States has purchased an additional 200 million doses of coronavirus vaccine

THE Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced that the US government has bought 200 million additional installments vaccine against the coronavirus, and that the US has the option of procuring a updated version of the vaccine targeting new, mutated strains of the virus.

Today’s announcement, cited by Reuters and AFP, raises the total number of doses to be given in the US to 500 million, of which about 208 million installments have already delivered, according to government figures by Thursday.

It is recalled that Pfizer signed an agreement last year with the US government to purchase 100 million doses of vaccine for about $ 2 billion, with the possibility of purchasing an additional 500 million installments.

The majority of the new installments will be given by the end of the year and the remaining 90 million will be delivered by April 30 next year, the two companies announced.

It is worth noting that the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday that the seven-day average of new cases in the US has increased by 53% compared to a week earlier.

The Delta executive, in fact, corresponds to above 80% of new cases across the country.

Finally, Pfizer reported earlier this month that the companies plan to request the approval of US and European regulators for a booster dose of their vaccines against COVID-19. The companies have designed a new version of the vaccine targeting the Indian strain of the virus, which they plan to test next weeks, but it has been suggested that the existing vaccine may also provide protection against the variant strain.