UPDATED: European Commission signs third contract with BioNTech-Pfizer for 1.8 bln vaccine doses, Hungary opts out

The European Commission said on Thursday that it signed a third contract with pharmaceutical companies BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc for an additional 1.8 billion doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

The contract reserves the doses on behalf of all European Union member states, between end 2021 to 2023, the statement added. The contract requires that the vaccine production is based in the EU and that essential components are sourced from the EU.

Today’s contract with the BioNTech-Pfizer alliance builds upon the broad portfolio of vaccines to be produced in Europe, including the already signed contracts with AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Curevac and Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer itself.

The Commission has granted conditional marketing authorisation for the vaccines developed by BioNTech and Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson. This diversified vaccines portfolio ensures Europe has access to enough doses to immunise its whole population including for the variant viruses.

Hungary is the only European Union country that has decided to opt out of a new vaccine deal the bloc has signed with Pfizer and BioNTech for the supply of up to 1.8 billion doses of their COVID-19 jab, an EU spokesman said.

The Commission on Thursday confirmed the new deal, the third it has signed with the two companies, for the possible purchase of up to 1.8 billion doses until 2023, following 600 million doses ordered via the two previous contracts.

“Hungary opted out of the Pfizer deal,” the EU spokesman said on Thursday.

Gergely Gulyas, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, confirmed that Hungary had decided not to be part of the joint purchase, expressing confidence in the country’s current supply of vaccines.

Even if a booster was needed, “there are plenty of vaccines from Eastern and Western sources as well,” he told a news conference on Thursday.

Orban has cultivated strong ties with Russia and China, and Hungary has authorised and deployed Russian and Chinese shots before their approval by the EU drugs regulator — the only European Union country to do so.

In March, the government suggested Russian and Chinese COVID-19 vaccines were more effective than Western ones, prompting an outcry from Hungarian scientists and doctors.

The government’s approach seems to be paying off, however: Hungary has given at least one dose of a vaccine to 49% of the adult population, the fourth-fastest rollout in the world, according to a Reuters tally.

Photo: A vial of a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the Villa Scassi Hospital in Genoa, Italy,. EPA-EFE/LUCA ZENNARO