The federal government has reached a $1.95 billion deal with Pfizer to acquire 100 million doses of its vaccine candidate against the coronavirus if the Food and Drug Administration OKs it. The vaccine would be free to Americans, according to the deal, though health care providers could charge to administer it, NPR reports.
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense announced the deal Wednesday as part of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration's push to have a coronavirus vaccine widely available by January.
Pfizer is working on the vaccine with BioNTech, a German company. Clinical trials began in April, and Pfizer announced positive early results this week, though it has yet to announce that data have been vetted and published in a medical journal. Larger safety and efficacy studies could begin later this month.
"If the ongoing studies are successful, Pfizer and BioNTech expect to be ready to seek Emergency Use Authorization or some form of regulatory approval as early as October 2020," the company said in a statement.
