The European Commission announced on Thursday 17 December that it has concluded preliminary discussions with the US pharmaceutical company Novavax to purchase 100 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine (see EUROPE 12592/1). The discussions also covered the possibility of an additional 100 million doses, if required.
It should be noted that the European Union has already held preliminary discussions and concluded advance purchase agreements with six pharmaceutical companies, namely AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Johnson&Johnson, BioNTech-Pfizer, CureVac and Moderna. Having already been approved in several countries, the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine has been used since early December in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. Moderna’s vaccine is due to be licensed soon in the United States.
The European Commission could issue an initial conditional market authorisation on 23 December, provided that there is a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency (see EUROPE 12624/17). If this is the case, Member States could start their vaccination campaign on 27 December.
At the European Parliament on Thursday, Yórgos Kýrtsos (EPP, Greece) and Maria da Graça Carvalho (S&D, Portugal) called on the European Commission to create a European mechanism that would assure the validity of tests and future vaccines. This mechanism involves the use of blockchain technology and would be managed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)