Trevor Hunnicutt, Manojna maddipatla

(Reuters) – The Biden administration has doubled the order. Pfizer Inc (NYSE) has an oral COVID-19 antiviral treatment. On Tuesday, the White House and Inc announced that they would provide 20 million courses to the government in order to combat a record number of COVID-19 cases.

A White House official stated that the White House is now expecting approximately 4,000,000 treatment options of the pill to become available before the end of January. By June, 10 million will have been made, which was three months faster than the original plan.

Official: “We’ll get them as soon the come off the line.”

The company did not disclose details of the deal. It was Pfizer’s biggest yet for the Pill.

In November’s first order, 10 million of the courses were ordered by the U.S. Government. The government stated that Pfizer would be paid $5.29 billion.

On Twitter, the White House announced that “these pills will be delivered within the coming months” (NYSE:).

Two-drug Paxlovid from Pfizer was last month approved for children 12 and over. It is intended to be administered at home five days after the first onset of symptoms. It was almost 90% effective in preventing deaths and hospitalizations in patients with severe illnesses.

According to the U.S., a senior official stated that Washington might activate the Defense Production Act and use other exceptional powers to accelerate deliveries in case Pfizer faces production problems.

A rival antiviral pill from Merck & Co also won regulatory authorization last month. A deal has been reached between the U.S. and 5 million units of the pill, Molnupiravir. The cost per unit is $700.