Trump's administration signs contract with Pfizer for for COVID-19 vaccine

As nations around the world race to lock up coronavirus vaccines even before they are ready, the Trump administration on Wednesday made one of the most significant investments yet, announcing a nearly $2 billion contract with Pfizer and a German biotechnology company for 100 million doses by December, Report says.

The contract is part of what the White House calls the Warp Speed project to drastically shorten the time it would take to manufacture and distribute an effective vaccine. So far, the United States has put money into more than a half dozen efforts, hoping to build manufacturing ability for an eventual breakthrough.

"Today, my administration reached a historic agreement with Pfizer to produce and deliver 100 million doses of their vaccine immediately following its approval. Hopefully, the approval process will go very quickly. And we think we have a winner there. We also think we have other companies right behind that are doing very well on the vaccines — long ahead of schedule."

Notably, the United States ranks first in the world in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths. More than 4.1 million people have contracted the virus so far, with more than 146,000 deaths. 

Chinese city Wuhan reported on the first cases of the new type of coronavirus (COVID-19)  in December.