LONDON / FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Pfizer and BioNTech have agreed to supply their COVID-19 vaccine to the World Health Organization’s co-led COVAX vaccination access scheme, two sources familiar with the deal said, the latest in a series of shots that should be included in the project aimed at low-wage countries.
The deal is expected to be announced Friday, according to the sources, who have declined to be named due to the confidentiality of the agreement.
Details about the size of the deal or the price per dose COVAX would pay were not immediately apparent, but the sources said the allotment would likely be relatively small. One source said the reason for the limited volume was that the doses were primarily intended for health professionals in the countries COVAX serves.
BioNTech declined to comment, while Pfizer did not respond to requests for comment. WHO and the GAVI Vaccine Alliance, which co-leads the COVAX plan, also declined to comment.
WHO senior adviser Bruce Aylward said on Monday that the COVAX plan was “in very detailed discussions” with Pfizer, which has already pledged hundreds of millions of doses to several wealthy countries this year, and expected the vaccine to include in COVAX “very soon. “.
The COVAX scheme will begin distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to poor and middle-income countries in February.
Ukraine said earlier on Thursday that the first delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine under the COVAX schedule could take place in the first half of February – with 210,000 doses of the Moderna, Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine.
COVAX has said it hopes to deliver more than 2 billion COVID-19 doses around the world this year. In an updated forecast published Thursday, it said it plans to deliver about 1.8 billion doses to 92 poorer countries by 2021, covering about 27% of their population.
The plan – led by the WHO, the GAVI Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) – was set up last year out of concern that poorer countries would lose while rich countries pushed to buy COVID-19 vaccines for their populations to inoculate. .
COVAX has so far secured future vaccine deliveries from AstraZeneca, in partnership with Oxford University; the Serum Institute of India (SII) and with Sanofi and its partner GSK. It also has a memorandum of understanding on deliveries from Johnson & Johnson.
The Pfizer deal would be COVAX’s second, after the one with AstraZeneca, which involves a product that has been approved by regulatory agencies in some countries.
Pfizer’s additional commitment is due to growing frustration in European countries about the unexpected shutdown of the American drug manufacturer’s stockpile. Pfizer said last week it would cut deliveries to early February to upgrade production capacity for a later output increase.
The Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is the only shot so far approved by WHO for emergency use.
On Wednesday, Reuters reported that WHO plans to approve several COVID-19 vaccines from Western and Chinese manufacturers in the coming weeks and months, as it aims for rapid rollout in poorer countries.
BioNTech and Pfizer said this month they plan to deliver 2 billion doses of vaccine this year, up from an earlier goal of 1.3 billion.
Their recording is more complicated to transport and store, requiring ultra-cold freezers, which may not be practical for poorer countries with warm climates.
Reporting by Kate Kelland in London and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Edited by Josephine Mason and Hugh Lawson