EU Signs Contract For Up To 300 Million Doses Of COVID-19 Vaccine
The European Union has formally authorized a fourth contract with US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and German lab BioNTech to procure up to 300 million doses of their candidate Coronavirus vaccine, should it be proven to be safe and effective against the virus.
“In the wake of Monday’s promising announcement by BioNTech and Pfizer on the prospects for their vaccine, I’m very happy to announce today’s agreement … to purchase 300 million doses,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in a statement on Wednesday.
Today’s meeting of the College of commissioners focuses on:
▫️Authorising a contract with BioNTech-Pfizer to secure a COVID-19 vaccine
▫️Proposals to set up a European #HealthUnion
▫️The 1st ever EU Equality Strategy for #LGBTQI people
▫️A new Agenda to protect consumers pic.twitter.com/FHKW8RfRBn— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) November 11, 2020
READ MORE: Meet Couple Behind The World’s First Effective COVID-19 Vaccine
According to BioNTech, the contract will guarantee the supply of 200 million doses, with an option to procure an additional 100 million doses. The pharmaceutical company says it expects deliveries to begin by the end of 2020, pending approval of the vaccine by the European Medical Agency.
“As a company founded in the heart of Europe, we are looking forward to supplying millions of people upon regulatory approval,” BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said in a company statement Wednesday.
“Our aim is to develop a safe and effective vaccine to contribute to bringing this pandemic to an end. Only through joint efforts will we be able to do so,” Sahin added.
UPDATE: We are proud to announce, along with @BioNTech_Group, that our mRNA-based #vaccine candidate has, at an interim analysis, demonstrated initial evidence of efficacy against #COVID19 in participants without prior evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
— Pfizer Inc. (@pfizer) November 9, 2020
