While millions of people have already safely received COVID-19 vaccines, we recognize that for some, the FDA approval of a vaccine may now instill additional confidence to get vaccinated
New early data showed that a third dose generated virus-neutralizing antibodies more than 5 times higher in younger people and more than 11 times higher in older people than from two doses
We are not allocating these doses, or delivering these doses, based on political or economic conditions. We are donating these vaccines with the singular objective of saving lives.
Before Thursday, the largest real-world study of the Pfizer/BioNTec vaccine, also in Israel, was nearly five times smaller, involving 1.2 million people.
"Our first formulation had to be stored and shipped at minus 80 degrees. We have now, in the meantime, a formulation which is not yet approved... which can be stored at two to eight degrees," Sahin told a Financial Times conference panel, adding that data packages were being prepared for regulators.
The companies filed a similar request in the United States earlier this month for the vaccine, which is already authorized for use in people from 16 years of age in both the United States and the European Union.
The submissions are based on positive data from a late-stage clinical trial that enrolled 2,260 participants aged 12 to 15, the companies said.
This is the third contract sealed by the bloc with the two companies, which have already agreed to deliver 600 million doses under two previous contracts.
The planned orders will be for so-called mRNA vaccines, with a preference for manufacturers who are EU-based or who have production facilities in Europe.
Only the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine, which is manufactured in Belgium and Germany, and Moderna, which manufactures in Spain and Switzerland, currently meet these requirements.
The vaccine was 100% effective in protecting against symptomatic disease, said the companies, who tested the drug on more than 2,260 children during phase three trial.
Researchers also didn’t find any safety concerns, Pfizer and BioNTech said.
The doses to vaccinate two million people will be supplied in addition to the planned deliveries, to ease border movement and to tackle virus hotspots, the Commission said.
"To tackle aggressive variants of the virus and to improve the situation in hotspots, quick and decisive action is necessary," the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said.
The airline said pilots and cabin crew on three international flights from Singapore to Jakarta, Bangkok and Phnom Penh had received both of the required doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
"This is a hugely significant milestone in our national effort against this virus."
The country approved vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford University-AstraZeneca earlier than the United States and Europe, enabling it to make an early start on roll-out.
Japan's vaccine chief said last week that export controls imposed by the European Union, where some vaccines are made, could delay the Asian nation's inoculation effort.
Pfizer and BioNTech have increased manufacturing capacity to more than 2 billion doses a year from 1.3 billion to meet demand.
The Commission, which has coordinated the orders, said on Tuesday it would propose that pharmaceutical firms be required to register their vaccine exports.
The decision will be taken tomorrow to start implementing this mechanism.
Most of the money, some 69,3 million euros, will go directly on research and development while around 12 million will be used to expand the ReiThera vaccine production site, close to Rome.
The company aims to produce some 100 million shots of its vaccine per year.
