The U.S. is on track to receive an additional 100 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, which will be gradually shipped to healthcare facilities across the nation throughout the summer of 2021, according to a Wednesday (Dec. 23) news release from BioNtech and Pfizer Inc. 

The additional doses, purchased by the U.S. at a cost of $1.95 billion, will bring the total number of doses to be delivered to the nation to 200 million. 

The two companies say they expect to ship all of the 200 million doses to Operation Warp Speed (OWS) by July 31. 

“Securing more doses from Pfizer and BioNTech for delivery in the second quarter of 2021 further expands our supply of doses across the Operation Warp Speed portfolio,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “This new federal purchase can give Americans even more confidence that we will have enough supply to vaccinate every American who wants it by June 2021.”

Under the terms of the second agreement, the companies will deliver at least 70 million of the additional doses by June 30, 2021, with the remaining 30 million doses to be delivered no later than July 31, 2021, BioNTech says. 

The government also has the option to acquire up to an additional 400 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Eligible U.S. residents will continue to receive the vaccine for free, consistent with the U.S. government’s commitment to providing free access for COVID-19 vaccines and according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations for the vaccine’s phased rollout. 

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has not been approved or licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but has been authorized for emergency use by FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to prevent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) for use in individuals 16 years of age and older.

For more information on Pfizer's vaccine, please visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) official webpage here.