Brussels gives the green light to the agreement with Pfizer to buy 300 million doses
Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine sparks optimism.
The European Commission announced this Wednesday an agreement reached with the pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Biontech so that member states can purchase up to 300 million doses of their vaccine against Covid-19.
“A safe and effective vaccine is our best chance to defeat the coronavirus and return to our normal life,” Von der Leyen said in a statement: “In recent months, the European Commission has worked tirelessly to secure doses of possible vaccines. And tomorrow we will authorize a contract for up to 300 million doses of the vaccine developed by the German company BioNTech and Pfizer. “
“Once this vaccine is available,” said the president of the European Commission, her goal is “to implement it quickly anywhere in Europe. This will be the fourth contract with a pharmaceutical company to buy vaccines. And more will come. Because we need have a wide portfolio of vaccines based on different technologies “.
“After yesterday’s announcement by Pfizer and Biontech about the prospects for their vaccine, the agenda of the college (of commissioners) foresees the adoption of the agreement with these companies,” the main spokesman for the Community Executive announced at a press conference , Eric Mamer.
Brussels has avoided giving details about the document that the commissioners will have on the table tomorrow, but has recalled that the preliminary agreement with both pharmaceutical groups provides for the acquisition of 200 million doses for the entire block and the possibility of buying another 100 million more.
Once the contract has been adopted by the Community Executive, the Member States will be able to decide whether to participate in the agreement and, if so, how many doses they want to buy. Once all these questions have been resolved, the agreement will be formally signed.
Pfizer and Biontech announced Monday that their Covid-19 vaccine is more than 90 percent effective, following the “success” of the first interim analysis of their phase 3 trial. Their mRNA-based vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, against SARS-COV-2 has been shown to be effective against coronavirus in participants with no prior evidence of infection, according to the first interim efficacy analysis conducted on November 8.
A “TRUE” UNION FOR HEALTH
On the other hand, the college of commissioners plans to approve this Wednesday a series of initiatives to establish a “true” Union for Health in the bloc, which is part of the measures promoted by the institution chaired by the German Ursula von der Leyen to root of the pandemic.
In this context, Brussels will present draft legislation to respond to serious threats in the health field that affect various community partners, and to expand the competences of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC ).
All these measures will be revealed at a press conference by the Vice President of the Community Executive for the European Lifestyle, Margaritis Schinas, and the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides.
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