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| Four European countries signed coronavirus vaccine Agreement |
Four European countries signed coronavirus vaccine Agreement . Four European countries — Germany, France , Italy and the Netherlands — order 300 million doses of the potential coronavirus vaccine currently in production. A four-country alliance has also signed a deal with British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. Other European countries will also be able to join the programme, according to a report by Deutsche Welle.
A possible Astra Zeneca vaccine is still in the test phase, but the Deutsche Gesundheitsminister confirmed the deal on Saturday,Reporting by AFP. The ministry said as soon as it was ready the vaccine would be distributed according to population. The vaccine production is expected to expire by the end of this year.
The ministry said the agreement needed to keep the vaccine in large quantities and ready as soon as possible after it was approved later this year or early next year to ensure production capacity.
German Minister of Health Jens Spann said: "Many countries around the world have already confirmed the availability of the vaccine, but Europe has not. It will be more important if the groups of several Member States take joint action to tackle this problem.
In a statement on Facebook, Italy's health minister said 400 million doses of the vaccine would be available to Europeans.
Europe's population is roughly 446 million, according to the World Bank. The cost of getting 400 million vaccine doses wasn't brought to the fore.
Four European countries have formed an alliance, the German health ministry says. They 're also talking with other pharmaceutical companies about possible vaccines. The European Commission last Friday approved an agreement to purchase the vaccine ahead of time.
Laboratories worldwide working on the coronavirus are trying desperately to find a quick vaccine. The advance payment agreements will help to bring the vaccine within 12 to 18 months in the massive investment in the manufacturing process.
The vaccine made by AstraZeneca in collaboration with the University of Oxford, UK, is one of the few vaccines in the world, according to the World Health Organization.
"The agreement will ensure millions of people in Europe will have access to the Oxford vaccine once it is approved," said Pascal Sariot, chief executive of AstraZeneca. Europe's supply chain is set to start production quickly and arrange to get it quickly. Recently , the United Kingdom, the United States, the Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness, GAVI and the Vaccine Alliance signed 600 million-dose agreements with AstraZeneca.
The institute has also signed an agreement with India's Seram Institute to produce a separate Rs 100 crore dose.
The vaccine was tested against 1,000 healthy people between the ages of 18 and 55 in the United States in April. In the next step last month 10,000 people were vaccinated.
Moderna and Sanofi lead the race to develop new coronavirus vaccines in addition to the AstraZeneca. Experts say it is now important to quickly bring a vaccine to lift the lockdown given the situation with coronavirus.
Coronavirus has killed over 417,000 people worldwide and has infected over 7.5 million people.