Britain's health minister Matt Hancock announced the country would be purchasing 60 million Pfizer/BionNTech COVID-19 vaccines to bolster the supply of vaccines ahead of the booster program being implemented in the fall.
Currently, Britain is utilizing three vaccines with Pfizer being the most sought-after one. The country has purchased a total of 100 million doses of the vaccine to date.
The focal point for Britain's booster program is to continue to protect citizens against COVID-19 variants that have made a significant impact around the world.
© LUIS ACOSTAThe Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (LUIS ACOSTA/)
"These further 60 million does will be used, alongside others, as part of our booster program from later this year, so we can protect the progress that we've all made," Hancock said.
According to Reuters, plans for the booster program were still be worked on, and the official program that rolls out in the autumn will be determined by trial data that shows the efficacy of different combinations of vaccines.
"We'll get an idea then of which gives you the highest boost, which perhaps gives you the broadest boost against a range of coronavirus variants, and indeed what the timings look like," said England Deputy Chief Medic Johnathan Van-Tam at a press conference. "That is another reason why the vaccines taskforce has invested in contracts with not just one of two manufacturers, but six or seven so that we have that optionality."
To date, Britain has administered 47.5 million doses of the three vaccines so far, according to Reuters. The country has deals for 517 million doses of eight different vaccines for its population of 67 million.