(Reuters) -Pfizer Inc is close to striking a deal with the U.S. government to supply at least tens of millions of additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate next year in exchange for a government directive giving it better access to manufacturing supplies, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
An agreement could be announced as early as Wednesday, the newspaper reported https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/us/pfizer-vaccine-trump-administration.html, citing people familiar with the discussions.
“We continue to work collaboratively with the U.S. government to get doses of our COVID-19 vaccine to as many Americans as possible,” Pfizer said in an emailed statement.
“The company is not able to comment on any confidential discussions that may be taking place with the U.S. government.”
Pfizer and partner BioNTech SE as well as rival Moderna Inc recently won the U.S. emergency use authorization for their respective vaccine candidates.
The U.S. government had signed a deal with Pfizer for 100 million doses of its vaccine, which has started being rolled out across the country.
As part of the new negotiations, the government is asking for 100 million additional doses from Pfizer from April through June, according to the NYT report.
In exchange, the deal calls for the government to invoke the Defense Production Act to give Pfizer better access to roughly nine specialized products it needs to make the vaccine, the report said.
Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
