EU to negotiate major vaccine contract extension with Pfizer

EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced plans Wednesday for a major contract extension for COVID-19 vaccines with Pfizer stretching to 2023.

In a sign of confidence in a company that has been a mainstay of Europe's vaccination drive so far, von der Leyen said the EU will start negotiating to buy 1.8 billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine through 2023.

Von der Leyen expressed full confidence in the technology used for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is different from the one used for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

“We need to focus on the technologies that have proven their worth,” von der Leyen said.

The European Commission currently has a portfolio of 2.3 billion doses from a half dozen companies and is negotiating more contracts.