About $4.04B to Pfizer — an adult COVID-19 vaccine purchase administered by the Army, its 1.7-year period the shortest among the defense contracts this site has yet to cover

1A vaccine sits among Department of Defense contracts

Department of Defense contracts bring ships, aircraft and vehicles to mind. What this record covers is an adult COVID-19 vaccine. The recipient is a pharmaceutical company and the administering office is the Department of the Army.

The Army administering contracts for bulk pharmaceutical purchases is not unusual in the United States, presumably because the machinery for securing quantity and distributing nationally is in place. The record says nothing about the reason or the destinations. What it supports is that about $4,038.72 million stands obligated under a contract the Army administers.

2The short period reflects what is being bought

The period runs from 2022-06-29 to 2024-02-29, or 1.7 years. Across the 207 Department of Defense contracts this site holds as of 2026-09-01 the median period is 10.7 years and the mean 11.9, with 122 records running ten years or more, close to six in ten.

Only six fall between one and three years. Ships and aircraft carry long sequences from design through trials, and their contracts stretch to match. Buying an existing product by quantity does not. The length of a period says something about what is being procured.

3Outlays are recorded as zero

Obligations stand at about $4,038.72 million while outlays are recorded as zero. The contract ended in February 2024, so payment still to come is hard to credit.

Of the 207 Department of Defense contracts this site holds as of 2026-09-01, outlays are zero on 115, and 62 of those are past their end date as this one is. Ended and at zero reads as reflecting the reporting arrangement rather than the state of the contract. The outlay figure alone cannot settle whether payment was actually made.

4A short period reflects what is being bought

The period runs from 29 June 2022 to 29 February 2024, one and seven tenths years. Among the Department of Defense contracts this site holds as of 2026-09-01, that stands out as short.

Ships and aircraft carry long processes from design through testing, and their contracts run long with them. Buying an existing product by quantity has no such need. The length of a period reflects, to a degree, what is being bought. Obligations are about $4,038.72 million while outlays stand at zero, and since the contract ended in February 2024 that reads more accurately as the reporting arrangement.