BioNTech will supply 100m doses of its coronavirus vaccine to Chinese partner Fosun Pharma for use in mainland China next year in the country’s first publicly announced order of a foreign jab against the disease.

Fosun Pharma said on Wednesday that Germany’s BioNTech would supply the doses for use next year to help inoculate China’s 1.4bn people. The group would pay €125m ($152m) for the first 50m doses by December 30, followed by an additional €125m once Chinese regulatory approval was obtained, it said.

The move makes BioNTech’s vaccine the prime international competitor to China’s leading developers in their home market. Beijing-based Sinovac and state-owned group Sinopharm have already begun expanding manufacturing capacity and distributing vaccines.