The US government announced on Wednesday June 29 that it had purchased 105 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from the Pfizer-BioNTech alliance in anticipation of the fall in the United States. The contract, worth 3.2 billion dollars, includes the different dosages for babies, young children and teenagers/adults. It could also include versions specifically developed against the Omicron variant, as recommended to the government on Tuesday by a panel of experts.
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Deliveries are to begin in late summer and continue for the following months, the companies said. The agreement, signed with the Ministries of Defense and Health, includes the option to purchase up to 300 million doses. “The Biden-Harris administration is committed to doing everything we can to make vaccines free and widely available to Americans — and this is an important step in preparing for the fall.”Health Minister Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
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Joe Biden has asked Congress to vote on a new $23.5 billion pandemic funding package, but it has yet to pass. Thus, the federal government “has been forced to reallocate $10 billion of existing funds, skipping billions of dollars dedicated to the Covid-19 response”, adds the press release from the Ministry of Health. The White House had previously indicated that without new funding, vaccines could only be given for free to those most at risk.
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