Covid-19: European Commission reaches agreement with AstraZeneca on a potential vaccine
The European Commission reached a first agreement on August 14 with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to purchase a potential vaccine against Covid-19 as well as to donate to lower and middle income countries or re-direct to the European Economic Area, the Commission said in a statement.
Once the vaccine has proven to be safe and effective against Covid-19, the Commission now has agreed the basis for a contractual framework for the purchase of 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with an option to purchase 100 million more, on behalf of EU countries.
The Commission continues discussing similar agreements with other vaccine manufacturers, the statement said.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said: “The European Commission’s intense negotiations continue to achieve results.
“Today’s agreement is the first cornerstone in implementing the European Commission’s Vaccines Strategy. This strategy will enable us to provide future vaccines to Europeans, as well as our partners elsewhere in the world,” Von der Leyen said.
Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: “Today, after weeks of negotiations, we have the first EU Advance Purchase Agreement for a vaccine candidate.
“I would like to thank AstraZeneca for its constructive engagement on this important agreement for our citizens. We will continue to work tirelessly to bring more candidates into a broad EU vaccines portfolio. A safe and effective vaccine remains the surest exit strategy to protect our citizens and the rest of the world from the coronavirus,” Kyriakides said.
(Photo: Brian Hoskins/freeimages.com)
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