LONDON, Dec 1 Reuters -- Britain said on Wednesday it had agreed to buy 114 million more Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna COVID 19 vaccine shots, and that it had sped up signing the new contracts in light of the new Omicron variant.
The deal will include additional 60 million Moderna shots and 54 million Pfizer doses for next year and 2023, and includes access to any modified vaccines if they are needed to combat the Omicron strain or any other variant, according to the British health ministry.
The Great British vaccine effort that has so far delivered more than 115 million first, second and booster jabs across the UK will be proofed by these new deals and will help protect even more people in the years ahead, health minister Sajid Javid said.
Nearly 51 million people in Britain have received their first COVID vaccine - almost 89% of the population aged over 12, more than 46 million have had two doses, and some 18.6 million have received a booster shot.
The plan to give adults a vaccine booster by the end of January means a more than one million doses a week, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
32 cases of the heavily mutated Omicron variant, which it is feared could be more transmissible, have been identified in Britain, which has sparked the government to ramp up its vaccine programme.
Britain has made it mandatory to wear masks on public transport and shops but Johnson and his ministers hope that the booster programme will mean there won't be any restrictions or measures to curb social gatherings.
The contracts for the additional vaccines come on top of an order for 35 million Pfizer shots made in August for the second half of next year, and 60 million Novavax and 7.5 million GlaxoSmithKline GSK Sanofi shots due in 2022, but are yet to be approved by the British regulators.
The British government said it would donate 100 million doses by the end of 2022, saying 30 million would be donated by the end of the year because wealthy countries have been accused of not doing enough to distribute vaccine to poorer nations.
Johnson will host a roundtable with leaders from major pharmaceutical firms including AstraZeneca, GSK and Pfizer on Thursday to discuss preparations to deal with any future pandemics.