US to pay Pfizer, BioNTech $1.95bn for millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses

Pfizer Inc and German biotech firm BioNTech SE will get $1.95bn from the US government to produce and deliver 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the companies have said.

The agreement allows the United States government to acquire an additional 500 million doses, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense said. The Trump administration has agreed to spend billions of dollars on the development and procurement of a potential vaccine.