European Commission signs deal for 1.8bn additional Pfizer vaccines

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the importance of the deal in the EU's long-term fight to protect against Covid-19 and its variants. Picture: Tiago Petinga, Pool via AP)

The European Commission has signed a contract with Pfizer BioNTech to purchase an addition 1.8 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

The deal, signed today, allows for 900 million doses of the current vaccine and of a vaccine adapted to variants, with the option to purchase an additional 900 million.