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The European Commission (EC) has not yet concluded pre-purchase agreements with these companies, but has completed exploratory talks.
The Ministry of Health, after evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of vaccines, proposes to approve that Lithuania buy 186 thousand. Valneva product dose and 620 thousand. dose of Novavax vaccine, subject to EC agreement.
The ministry notes that the Valneva vaccine is scheduled to be registered in Europe and the United States only in the second half of this year, thus lagging behind other manufacturers. Also, according to SAM, there are still no data available on the efficacy of the vaccine, the doses, the preclinical studies. However, the manufacturer claims that the vaccine will be safe for pregnant women or the elderly, that it can be adapted, and that it can be stored at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees to protect against coronavirus mutations.
At the same time, it is emphasized that the vaccine is based on an inactivated whole virus, and this format is widely used for influenza, polio and other vaccines, but the process is more complex compared to DNA or RNA vaccines, which which can make it difficult to produce large quantities.
At that time, the Novavax vaccine, developed with a specific component of the recombinant SARS-CoV-2 protein S, is expected to have interim Phase 3 results only in the first quarter of this year. According to SAM, although the company has secured a large amount, about 2 billion. Funding in US dollars from funds from the US government and CEP, but data on the efficacy and safety of this vaccine are still relatively limited.
In addition, it is noted that the manufacturer does not have any successful registered vaccine, unlike Valneva, which has a registered vaccine against Japanese encephalitis and develops it against other diseases.
Under the planned agreement with Novavax, all EU member states could acquire 100 million euros. doses and could buy up to an additional 100 million. dose.
At that time, under the agreement envisaged with Valneva, all members of the Community could acquire 30 million euros. dose and could claim up to an additional 30 million. dose.
Once negotiations with Novavax and Valneva are complete, Europe will have contracts with eight different manufacturers for more than 2.5 billion euros. vaccine dose.
The EU has already signed contracts with AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi and GSK, Pfizer and BioNTech, CureVac, Moderna.
So far, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved three vaccines: Pfizer and BioNTech, and Moderna and AstraZeneca.
According to information published by the Ministry of Health in mid-January, according to existing agreements with manufacturers, Lithuania would need about 10 million. vaccine dose.
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