CDC Awards Pfizer $1.2 Billion for More COVID Vaccines: SAM.gov

Despite demand collapsing to just 17% among adults and 9% among children, per CDC data.

Jun 11, 2026

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded Pfizer more than $1.24 billion in contracts for adult and pediatric COVID-19 vaccines for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, according to federal procurement records published this month.

The awards were issued June 1 through the CDC Office of Acquisition Services.

The pediatric vaccine contract, identified as award number 75D30126D21001, carries a total value of $735,720,598.

The adult vaccine contract, identified as award number 75D30126D21004, carries a total value of $505,272,000.

Both awards were issued to Pfizer and published on SAM.gov on June 3.

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One of the most striking aspects of the awards is that the pediatric contract exceeds the adult contract by more than $230 million, despite children generally facing substantially lower risk from COVID-19 than older adults.

Moreover, Pfizer’s COVID vaccine for children is over $100 less expensive than its adult jab, raising questions about the projected volume of pediatric doses the CDC expects to purchase—and why demand among children would justify a contract substantially larger than the one for adults.

The procurement records provide virtually no explanation for the spending.

The contract descriptions are blank.

No information is provided regarding projected dose quantities, expected demand, effectiveness data, safety considerations, or the rationale for allocating more than $1.24 billion in taxpayer funds toward COVID-19 vaccine purchases over the next two fiscal years.

The awards also suggest that federal COVID vaccine procurement remains a major government priority years after officials declared the emergency phase of the pandemic over and repeatedly characterized COVID-19 as an endemic respiratory virus.

Both contracts were awarded through the CDC rather than a temporary emergency response program, indicating the purchases are being made through the agency’s ongoing public health infrastructure.

Americans Increasingly Reject COVID Vaccines

The move comes as federal health agencies continue promoting updated COVID-19 vaccines despite declining uptake among the general public and ongoing debate over the risk-benefit profile of repeated vaccination, particularly for healthy children.

Only 9% of children are reported by the CDC to be up to date with the 2025─26 COVID-19 vaccine, emphasizing the low demand among the young demographic.

Just 3.0% of parents say they even plan to vaccinate their child.

The same report shows only 17% of adults received the 2025─26 COVID-19 vaccine.

Rasmussen polling shows more than half of voters think COVID-19 vaccines “may have killed many people.”

The national telephone and online survey found that 56% of likely U.S. voters consider it likely that side effects of COVID-19 vaccines have caused a significant number of unexplained deaths, including 32% who believe it’s very likely.

COVID vaccines alone have been linked to 1.6 million adverse events, according to CDC VAERS data.

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