Covid-19: EC to contract for 405M doses of vaccine from CureVac
The European Commission will on November 17 authorise a contract to buy up to 405 million doses of a vaccine produced by the European company CureVac, EC President Ursula von der Leyen said.
“A few days after our contract with BioNTech and Pfizer [as reported by The Sofia Globe on November 10], I am happy to announce a new agreement,” Von der Leyen said.
“Earlier this year, we have provided funding to CureVac, together with the European Investment Bank. We did that to support the development of this vaccine,” she said.
“And now, progress is tangible. If the vaccine has proven safe and effective against Covid-19, every member state will receive the vaccine at the same time, on a pro-rata basis, and under the same conditions.”
This is the fifth contract with a pharmaceutical company for the EU’s Covid-19 vaccine portfolio, Von der Leyen said.
She said that the EC was working on a sixth one, with Moderna.
“We have already concluded exploratory talks with Moderna. We hope to finalise the contract soon.”
On November 16, US company Moderna said that it had developed a new vaccine that protects against Covid-19 and, according to the company, is nearly 95 per cent effective.
“We do not know at this stage, which vaccines will end up being safe and effective,” Von der Leyen said.
The European Medicines Agency EMA will authorise them only after a robust assessment, she said.
“This is why we need to have a broad portfolio of vaccines based on very different technologies. In parallel, we are working with COVAX to provide access to vaccines for low- and middle-income countries. Thus, we want to ensure that all have access rapidly to safe and effective vaccines,” Von der Leyen said.
(Photo of Von der Leyen: EC Audiovisual Service)
The Sofia Globe’s coverage of the Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria is supported by the Embassies of Switzerland and Finland.
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