The UK will receive an additional 35 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in a new deal arranged by the government’s Vaccine Taskforce.
Covid-19
The deal was announced shortly after the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine was granted full regulatory approval by the FDA. The doses are expected to arrive in the second half of 2022.
The government says the deal was made in order to help future-proof the UK from the threat of Covid-19 and its variants.
Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “The UK’s phenomenal vaccination programme is providing tens of millions of people with protection from Covid-19, saving 95,200 lives and preventing 82,100 hospitalisations in the over 65s in England alone.
While we continue to build this wall of defence from Covid-19, it’s also vital we do everything we can to protect the country for the future too – whether that’s from the virus as we know it or new variants.
I am pleased we’ve reached this agreement with Pfizer for more doses as part of our robust preparations to future-proof our vaccine programme, ensuring we have plans in place to keep the nation safe for years to come.”
So far, 47.7 million people in the UK have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. As of 23 August, 31,914 people tested positive with Covid-19.
The UK government says it is currently preparing a booster programme for some time this year once final advice from Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is released is September.
The additional doses mean the UK has now ordered 135 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
Within the next year the UK has said it will donate 100 million vaccine doses.