US biotech firm Moderna will become the sixth company to supply a coronavirus vaccine candidate to the EU after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said a deal for 160 million doses has been reached.
“I am happy to announce that tomorrow we will approve a new contract to secure another Covid-19 vaccine,” von der Leyen said on Tuesday.
The deal will allow the EU to buy up to 160 million doses of the vaccine developed by Moderna.
Last week, the American company announced that its vaccine has shown 94.5 percent effectiveness in preventing Covid-19, according to the results of interim late-stage clinical trials.
Moderna’s drug is the first vaccine from outside Europe for which the bloc has reached a deal. The five earlier deals were signed with EU-based biotech firms and the UK’s AstraZeneca.
Brussels said that such a diversified portfolio will ensure that the EU is well-prepared for vaccination from Covid-19, once the candidate vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective.
Russia’s Sputnik V, which became the world’s first registered vaccine in August, may also be used in the EU as member state Hungary received its first samples of it last week.
Budapest insists that it’s going to perform clinical trials of the Russian vaccine, despite opposition from Brussels, which says that foreign vaccines – not certified within the bloc – are a no-go.
On Tuesday, the team behind Sputnik V said that their vaccine was at least 95 percent effective, exceeding previous expectations. The result was based on data from Phase III trials, which involved almost 20,000 volunteers.
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