The U.S. mobilizes the wartime law to secure an additional 100 million doses of Pfizer vaccine

Input 2020.12.24 06:41

The US mobilized the Defense Goods Production Act (DPA) enacted during the Korean War to secure an additional 100 million doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccine.

The US Department of Defense released a press release on the 23rd (local time). We will provide an additional 100 million servings by the end of July.”

The US government has agreed to supply 100 million doses of Pfizer vaccine by the first quarter of next year. This is to secure a total of 200 million times by adding 100 million times. Modena vaccine will be supplied in 100 million doses each in the first and second quarters.

Considering that both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines must be given twice, we have secured an emergency approved vaccine quantity that can inoculate 200 million people. There are a total of 260 million Americans in the age group that can be vaccinated.

The agreement is said to include an option to allow the US government to purchase an additional 40 million doses of Pfizer vaccine. The Washington Post (WP) reported that the additional securing will avoid a situation where vaccines may be short in the first half of next year.

Health and Welfare Minister Alix Aza said today, “This additional purchase gives us the confidence that we will have enough supplies to vaccinate all the Americans we want by June 2021.”

According to the WP, the agreement led the US government to mobilize DPA to help Pfizer produce vaccines. The DPA is a law established during the Korean War and specifies the authority of the federal government to demand the production of strategic materials from the private sector.

Earlier, the New York Times (NYT) reported that the previous day, the Trump administration was pushing for additional purchases in exchange for mobilizing DPA to help Pfizer acquire more nine specialized products for vaccine manufacturing.

With this additional purchase, the amount paid by the US administration to Pfizer is $1.95 billion (about 2.5 trillion won), totaling $4 billion (about 4.4 trillion won) when combined with the previous one.

Pfizer developed a vaccine jointly with Bioentech, Germany, and vaccination began on the 14th after emergency approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).