Japanese Gov't, Pfizer Reach Agreement on COVID-19 Vaccine Deliveries - Reports

TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st July, 2020) The Japanese government and the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer have reached a deal on deliveries of a COVID-19 vaccine, media reported on Friday, citing Japanese Health Minister Kato Katsunobu.

According to the NHK broadcaster, the deal envisages that if Pfizer succeeds in developing the vaccine, about 120 million doses for 60 million people will be delivered to Japan by June 2021, given that one person should be vaccinated twice.

Pfizer plans to obtain a vaccine approval as early as October, the broadcaster stated.

Meanwhile, Katsunobu has not revealed a contract value, noting that the Japanese government will continue talks with other pharmaceutical companies so that the country's citizens get access to a vaccine as soon as possible.

Pfizer is cooperating with German biotechnological company BioNTech in developing a COVID-19 vaccine, and the companies are prepared to make up to 100 million doses by the end of 2020, and possibly more than 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.