“Once this vaccine becomes available, our plan is to deploy it quickly, everywhere in Europe.”
The EU will approve a contract for the supply of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine tomorrow, it has been confirmed.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said today that the contract for the vaccine, which has been found to be 90% effective, will be signed off tomorrow, Wednesday.
It is hoped that once the vaccine becomes available, it will be deployed across the EU “quickly.”
“Tomorrow we will authorise a contract for up to 300 million doses of the vaccine developed by German company BioNTech and Pfizer,” said von der Leyen.
“Once this vaccine becomes available, our plan is to deploy it quickly, everywhere in Europe.
“This will be the fourth contract with a pharmaceutical company to buy vaccines. And more will come. Because we need to have a broad portfolio of vaccines based on different technologies.”
Pfizer and BioNTech announced the results of their Covid-19 vaccine trial yesterday. Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chairman and CEO, described the results as “a great day for science and humanity.”
“With today’s news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis,” he said.
“We look forward to sharing additional efficacy and safety data generated from thousands of participants in the coming weeks.”
The results revealed that the vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 in participants without evidence of prior infection.
The figure of over 90% is hugely significant as regulators have previously discussed a willingness to approve a vaccine that is 50% effective, thereby protecting only half of those who would get it.
The global trial, which began in July, involved 43,538 participants. You can find out more about the trial here.
