European Commission concludes agreements with three major pharmaceutical companies on vaccines, and exploring other deals
To date, the European Commission (EC) has concluded agreements with three pharmaceutical companies on behalf of all European Union (EU) Member States, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on EU Affairs heard this morning.
Agreements were concluded with AstraZeneca for the purchase of 300 million doses of the vaccine, with an option to purchase 100m more; Sanofi-GSK for the purchase of 300m shots; Johnson and Johnson for the initial purchase of 200m preparations, and the EU could further purchase up to an additional 200m doses.
Also, exploratory talks were underway with the German company, CureVac, with the US company, Moderna, and with BioNTech-Pfizer for millions more doses, according to Gerard Kiely, Head of the EC Representation in Ireland.
The Commission’s vaccines strategy was designed to accelerate the development and availability of vaccines. It aimed to secure the production of vaccines within the EU; ensure sufficient supplies for its Member States through Advance Purchase Agreements with vaccine producers; adapt the EU’s regulatory framework to the current emergency, and use the flexibility of its rules to speed up the development, authorisation and availability of vaccines.
A European leaders’ virtual meeting on Covid-19 coordination is to take place tomorrow (October 29).
The meeting is to focus on additional Covid-19 response measures and set out next steps in key areas to reinforce the EU’s response to the resurgence in Covid-19 cases.
Ireland’s Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is due to attend an informal videoconference of the Ministers for Health on the following day, (Friday, October 30).
The Commission is to establish a common reporting framework and a platform to monitor the effectiveness of national vaccine strategies. To share the best practices, the conclusions of the first review on national vaccination plans is to be presented next month.
The latest draft update from the World Health Organization lists 44 candidate vaccines currently in clinical evaluation, outlining their type, number of doses, timing of doses, route of administration and clinical stages of development.
The listing is solely for information purposes and is dated October 19.
