The agreement will give EU member states access to the vaccines, including the latest ones that already take specific, newer variants of corona into account. These vaccines must then be approved.
Early last year, the Commission already approved a deal with Moderna, which provided for an additional purchase of 300 million doses (150 million in 2021 with an option to purchase another 150 million in 2022). The doses would actually be delivered in the summer. That has now been postponed to the autumn, as Member States are expected to need additional vaccine stocks for national campaigns.
It therefore also concerns the most recent vaccines. For example, another 15 million extra doses of the vaccines formulated for the omikron variant and usable as boosters are also secured.
Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety said: “This agreement will ensure that Member States have access to the vaccine doses needed to protect our citizens at the right time.”
In 2020, the European Union already invested heavily in the worldwide production of a number of corona vaccines. “It was crucial to have enough vaccines in place as quickly as possible, and significant investments had to be made before it became clear whether these vaccines would work,” the Commission concluded in retrospect.