Taiwan based TTY Biopharm Company, has announced that it has received authorization for the delivery of coronavirus vaccines developed by Germany's BioNTech SE which is under the phase 3 clinical trials for safety.

Under the agreement, Taiwan can acquire up to 30 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, with 10 million expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2021.

The vaccine requires two doses per person to be effective, meaning 15 million people in Taiwan can be immunized with the number of doses the company is authorized to sell, said TTY Biopharm General Manager Robbin Shih.

TTY Biopharm Chairman will be negotiating with the Taiwanese health authorities on the precise quantity, delivery time, and price of the vaccines. Taiwan is waiting for legal approval from the BioNTech SE.

BioNTech's mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate is currently in Phase 2/3 clinical trials in Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey and the United States. The vaccine is co-developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and is one of the leading candidates in the race to gain regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe.

According to TTY Biopharm, BioNTech has already reached similar deals with the United Kingdom (30 million doses), the United States (100 million doses), Japan (120 million doses), the European Union (200 million doses) and Canada.

Chairman Lin cautioned, however, that the storage and transportation of the German vaccine will be a major challenge because it needs to be stored and transported at a temperature of minus 70 to minus 80 degrees Celsius. TTY Biopharm is managing the cold chain logistics and expressed confidence that the issue could be overcome.