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This article is presented to you in association with the European Commission.
Today, the European Commission approved a third contract with a pharmaceutical company, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, one of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen pharmaceutical companies.
Once the vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective against COVID-19, the contract allows Member States to purchase vaccines for 200 million people. They will also have the ability to buy vaccines for 200 million more people.
Member States may also decide to donate the vaccine to low- and middle-income countries or redirect it to other European countries.
The Commission has already signed a contract with AstraZeneca and Sanofi-GSK and has successfully concluded exploratory discussions with CureVac, BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna.
President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, He said: “As the coronavirus continues to spread worryingly across Europe, it is crucial to find a vaccine and quickly. I am glad that we were able to reach an agreement with Johnson & Johnson to purchase vaccines for 200 million people. This will be our third contract with a pharmaceutical company. Our aim is to provide EU citizens with safe and effective vaccines as soon as they find them ”.
Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: “Ensuring a safe and effective vaccine is at the core of our European vaccine strategy. Today we have secured our third vaccine agreement, expanding our portfolio of candidate vaccines and thus our chances of finding an effective remedy against the virus. More agreements will follow, and we remain determined in our search for a safe and successful vaccine to combat this deadly pandemic. “
The Janssen COVID-19 candidate vaccine leverages the AdVac® technology platform, which was also used to develop and manufacture the recently approved Ebola vaccine by Janssen and the candidate vaccines against Zika, RSV and HIV. The candidate vaccine is already in phase III clinical trials.
The Commission’s decision to support this vaccine is based on solid scientific evaluation, the technology used, the company’s experience in vaccine development and its production capacity to supply the entire EU.
Background
The European Commission presented on June 17 a European strategy to accelerate the development, manufacture and deployment of effective and safe vaccines against COVID-19. In exchange for the right to purchase a specific number of doses of vaccine within a specified period, the Commission finances part of the initial costs faced by vaccine producers in the form of Advance purchase agreements. The funding provided is seen as an advance on the vaccines that will actually be purchased by the Member States.
Since the high cost and high failure rate make investing in a COVID-19 vaccine a high-risk decision for vaccine developers, this agreement will allow investments to be made that otherwise would likely not be made.
The European Commission is also committed to ensuring that everyone who needs a vaccine receives it, anywhere in the world and not just at home. No one will be safe until everyone is safe. That is why it has raised almost 16,000 million euros since May 4, 2020 in the framework of Coronavirus Global Response, the global action for universal access to tests, treatments and vaccines against the coronavirus and for global recovery and has confirmed your interest in participating in the COVAX Facility. for equitable access to affordable COVID-19 vaccines everywhere. As part of an effort by Team Europe, the Commission announced that it is contributing € 400 million in guarantees to support COVAX and its objectives in the context of the Global Response to Coronavirus.
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