Biden Administration buys additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna

At the request of US President Joe Biden, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Defense (DoD) yesterday said they have purchased an additional 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from both Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA) to help meet demand for COVID-19 vaccines in the USA.

The orders placed yesterday bring the vaccine purchased by the US government from these two companies to a total of 600 million doses, enough to vaccinate 300 million people. Each company is delivering 300 million doses in regular increments through the end of July 2021. Each company will leverage U.S.-based manufacturing capacity to fill, finish and ship vials as the bulk material is produced.”

“As the President directed, we are expanding our supply of COVID vaccines to protect people as quickly as possible,” said Acting HHS Secretary Norris Cochran, adding: “These purchases will allow us to accelerate our vaccination efforts to get shots into the arms of the American people. While we rapidly ramp up the pace of vaccinations, I encourage everyone to take actions now to protect themselves and their families: wear a mask, wash your hands often, and practice physical distancing.”