The European Commission has approved a new contract that will allow Member States to purchase up to 100 million doses of the Novavax vaccine
The new contract will give them the option to purchase a further 100 million additional Novavax doses over the course of 2021, 2022, and 2023, once it has been reviewed and approved by EMA.
Member States will also be able to donate vaccines to lower and middle-income countries or to re-direct them to other European countries.
Vaccine testing
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “As new coronavirus variants are spreading in Europe and around the world, this new contract with a company that is already testing its vaccine successfully against these variants is an additional safeguard for the protection of our population. It further strengthens our broad vaccine portfolio, to the benefit of Europeans and our partners worldwide.”
Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: “Vaccinations in the EU are advancing and we are closer to our target of 70% fully vaccinated citizens by the end of summer. Our new agreement with Novavax expands our vaccine portfolio to include one more protein-based vaccine, a platform showing promise in clinical trials. We will continue working tirelessly to ensure that our vaccines continue to reach citizens in Europe and around the world, to end the pandemic as quickly as possible.”
Novavax is a biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases and their COVID-19 vaccine is already under rolling review by EMA in view of a potential market authorisation.
