Vaccines sponsored by the US government will be free or affordable - health secretary

US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar called the US government's agreement with Pfizer "historic" on CNBC Wednesday morning.

"This Pfizer one's really historic," Azar said, reports the CNN.

"It is a contract, an advance purchase contract, where we can acquire 100 million doses of this vaccine as early as December of 2019, of 2020 and have the option to buy an additional 500 million doses."

Azar said that clinical data from the phase 1 trial of the Pfizer vaccine shows that it produces what is looked for in the early stages of a vaccine: "neutralizing antibodies [at] levels equal to or better than what we see in recovered Covid patients and their convalescent plasma."

"So, really a historic agreement that President Trump led us to here," Azar said.

The Pfizer news comes on the heels of four other major investments, he said. 

The other four investments are in AstraZeneca, Moderna, Novovax and Johnson & Johnson's vaccine from its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutical.

Any Covid-19 vaccine that is sponsored by the government will be free or affordable for Americans, US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on CNBC Wednesday. 

"For any vaccine that we have bought – so for instance the Pfizer vaccine – those hundred million doses would actually be acquired by the US government, then given for free to Americans," Azar said.

He said it was the same with the AstraZeneca and the Novovax vaccine, and they continue to be in discussion about the others.

"We will ensure that any vaccine that we're involved in sponsoring is either free to the American people or is affordable," Azar said.