EC signs contract with Pfizer to access watershed vaccine
The European Commission has approved a fourth contract with pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech, following their revelation that they had developed a vaccine that could potentially prevent more than 90% of people from becoming infected by COVID-19.
Under the contract, announced yesterday, 11 November, the Commission will buy 200 million doses of the vaccine on behalf of all EU member states, with an option to request up to a further 100 million doses, to be supplied once the vaccine has proven to be safe and effective against COVID-19.
In a statement, the Commission said that the contract with the BioNTech-Pfizer alliance built upon the broad portfolio of vaccines to be produced in Europe, including previously signed contracts with AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, and the concluded talks with CureVac and Moderna.
This diversified vaccines portfolio will ensure Europe is well prepared for vaccination, once the vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective, it added.
President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “In the wake of Monday's promising announcement by BioNTech and Pfizer on the prospects for their vaccine, I'm very happy to announce today's agreement with the European company BioNTech and Pfizer to purchase 300 million doses of the vaccine.”
She added that with the fourth contract, the EU was now consolidating an “extremely solid vaccine candidate portfolio”, most of them in advanced trials phase. “Once authorised, they will be quickly deployed and bring us closer to a sustainable solution of the pandemic,” she said.
The development comes as the two pharmaceutical companies face a lawsuit from biotechnology company Allele Biotechnology which alleged in October that the vaccine was developed with the unauthorised use of Allele’s mNeonGreen fluorescent protein.
Stella Kyriakides, the EU commissioner for health and food safety, said: “A safe and effective vaccine is the only lasting exit strategy from the pandemic, and is at the centre of our European Vaccine Strategy.
“Today's agreement follows the encouraging first indications from the clinical trial results. It is a very telling example of what the EU can achieve when working together, as a Union, and a case in point of what a future European Health Union will be able to deliver.”
The Commission said that it took the decision to support this vaccine based on a sound scientific assessment, the technology used, the companies' experience in vaccine development and their capacity to supply the whole of the EU.
In return for the right to buy a specified number of vaccine doses in a given timeframe, the Commission finances part of the upfront costs faced by vaccine producers in the form of Advance Purchase Agreements. Funding provided is considered as a down-payment on the vaccines that will actually be bought by member states.
On 15 October, the Commission set out the steps that member states need to take to be fully prepared for a speedy distribution of vaccines that have been proven to be safe and effective, including the development of national vaccination strategies. The Commission is also developing a common reporting framework and a platform to monitor the effectiveness of national vaccine strategies.
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