BioNTech and its US partner Pfizer have announced that they would supply the European Union with an additional 100 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine this year.
The 27-nation group’s executive Commission exercised an option to buy the extra doses, raising the cumulative amount of shots to be supplied to the EU in 2021 to 600 million, according to the two firms.
The announcement gives the EU’s delayed and widely panned vaccine rollout a much-needed boost.
BioNTech‘s chief commercial officer, Sean Marett, stated that supplies of the company’s mRNA-based vaccine would cover two-thirds of the EU population this year. About 105 million shots have been delivered to the bloc’s 450 million citizens.
To have complete immunization, most vaccines need two doses.
“As the deadly virus threatens to wreak havoc across Europe, we remain committed to working as rapidly and efficiently as possible to get this vaccine to more people,” said Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer.
“We have fulfilled all of our EC supply obligations to date, and in Q2, we expect to send 250 million doses to the European Union, a fourfold improvement over the accepted quantity in Q1,” says the company.
The European Medicines Agency has given COMIRNATY® (the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine) provisional marketing authorization to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in people aged 16 and up.
The human medicines committee (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has concluded its thorough review of COMIRNATY®, concluding that adequate comprehensive data on the vaccine’s consistency, effectiveness, and efficacy are now available.