Washington, August 1: President Donald Trump administration stated on Friday that two major pharma companies will supply the United States government with 100 million doses of an experimental coronavirus vaccine. The US administration will pay $2.1 billion to French drugmaker Sanofi and British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline under the agreement.

According to a report, published in the global news agency Reuters, Trump administration will purchase experimental coronavirus vaccines from these two companies for over 50 million people, with an option of buying another 500 million doses. The agreement has been signed under Trump administration's so-called Operation Warp Speed. COVID-19 Vaccine Will Be Reality by Year-End, Says America’s Leading Authority on the Pandemic Anthony Fauci.

Announcing the deal, Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services -- Alex Azar -- said, as quoted by the news agency, "Today's investment supports our latest vaccine candidate, an adjuvanted product being developed by Sanofi and GSK, all the way through clinical trials and manufacturing, with the potential to bring hundreds of millions of safe and effective doses to the American people."

Earlier on Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control predicted that country's total fatalities -- due to COVID-19 -- would range between 168,000 and 182,000 by August 22. It had also predicted that the rise in the number of deaths will rise fastest in Alabama, Kentucky, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Tennessee and Washington state. As per to the worldometers.info, 156,752 people died in the US due to COVID-19, while 4,706,059 cases have been confirmed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 01, 2020 02:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).