DUBLIN: The European Union (EU) will sign an agreement with Pfizer today on the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. The European Union will buy 300 million doses of vaccine developed by German company BioNTech and Pfizer.
President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Commission would sign an agreement with Pfizer and BioNTech companies to supply the COVID-19 vaccine.
The agreement with the two companies comes after a test vaccine against the corona virus was found to be more than 90% effective. Patients were shown to be protected seven days after the second and 28 days after the first in two doses.
Pfizer and BioNtech have announced that they will deliver 50 million vaccine doses globally by 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses by 2021.
President Ursula von Der Lane said the plan is to speed up the distribution of the vaccine to all parts of Europe if it becomes available.
This is the fourth contract with a pharmaceutical company to purchase vaccines. Agreements will be reached with more companies. Vaccines are being purchased from more and more companies because of the need for a wider portfolio of vaccines based on different technologies.
While it is great news that the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNtech has been declared effective, Dr. David Nabarro, World Health Organization’s Special Envoy on Covid-19 said that a vaccine is not enough to fight the virus.
The World Health Organization is monitoring a number of vaccines in the third phase of testing. Dr. David Nabarro said he hopes some will be licensed next year.
The third phase of vaccine trials is to test the effectiveness and safety of the drug by providing it to thousands of people. Dr. Nabarro said the vaccine would enter its fourth phase of study if it is approved and licensed.