The European Commission has announced that it had successfully signed a contract on behalf of member states with British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca for the supply of at least 300 million doses of its potential Covid-19 vaccine, said EUobserver. com on Friday.
The contract also foresees the possible purchase 100 million extra doses to be distributed on a population-based pro-rata basis among the 27 EU countries.
The Commission continues discussing similar agreements with other vaccine manufacturers and has concluded successful exploratory talks with Sanofi-GSK on 31 July, Johnson & Johnson on 13 August, CureVac on 18 August and Moderna on 24 August, said novinite. com on Thursday.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said: “The Commission is working non-stop to provide EU citizens with a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19 as quickly as possible. The entry into force of the contract with AstraZeneca is an important step forward in this respect. I am looking forward to enriching our portfolio of potential vaccines thanks to contracts with other pharmaceutical companies and engaging with international partners for universal and equitable access to vaccination.”
Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: “Our negotiations have now delivered clear results: a first contract signed delivering on our commitment to ensure a diversified vaccine portfolio to protect the public health of our citizens. Today’s signature – made possible by the important groundwork undertaken by France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands – will ensure that doses of a vaccine which, if proven effective and safe, will be delivered across Member States. We expect to announce additional agreements with other vaccine manufacturers very swiftly. “
AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford joined forces to develop and distribute the University’s potential recombinant adenovirus vaccine aimed at preventing COVID-19 infection.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate is already in large-scale Phase II/III Clinical Trials after promising results in Phase I/II concerning safety and immunogenicity./argumentum.al
