Czech government wants 2 million doses of new Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine

Prague, Nov 11 (CTK) - The Czech Republic is interested in purchasing two million COVID-19 vaccine doses from US firm Pfizer, Health Minister Jan Blatny (ANO) told journalists today.

Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech, released their findings on a clinical study of the vaccine. Based on their analysis, they claim the vaccine is 90 percent effective in treating the virus, giving it a solid chance of being approved in the US and distributed by the end of the year.

During the summer, the EC reached an agreement on the delivery of a vaccine being developed by the British company AstraZeneca, in which the Czech Republic has reserved three million doses, Blatny said. As of yet, AstraZeneca has not yet published the results of its clinical tests.

Minister of Health Jan Blatný told journalists today the government's plans to purchase the new Pfizer vaccine. (photo: Vlada.cz)

The first vaccines may reach the Czech Republic in the first three months of next year, Blatny commented.

Last week, the Czech Republic joined a non-binding agreement on the delivery of the vaccines, negotiated by the European Commission, Blatny said. "We believe that as it is now, we will have five million doses at the time the vaccines are available," he added.

Blatny said that after the vaccines were received, healthcare personnel and elderly would be vaccinated first, with the goal of having 50-60 percent of the population vaccinated. The costs for the vaccines could range between 500 million and five billion crowns.

The Czech government is also negotiating with the companies Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson, CureVac and Moderna for vaccines.

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Pfizer and BioNTech announced Monday that their vaccine is more than 90 percent effective in clinical trails. (photo: iStock)

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According to Health Ministry estimates, about 3.5 million people are to be vaccinated during the first wave in the Czech Republic which has a population of 10.7 million. There are roughly 200,000 health personnel, two million citizens over 65 and another 1.3 million younger people facing the risk of chronic disease.

In some vaccines, the immunity is only created after two doses. As a result, about seven million of them are needed.