The EU joins the international initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO) to accelerate the development of drugs and vaccines against Covid-19 and make them accessible to everyone in the world.
The European Commission is making 400 million euros available for the COVAX partnership through guarantees, Commission chairman Ursula von der Leyen announced in Brussels.
“No country, no continent, can defeat the coronavirus on its own. We must join forces,” said von der Leyen.
The European contribution is mainly intended to help countries with a low or middle income to be able to buy future vaccines.
Brussels is negotiating on behalf of the 27 EU countries with several pharmaceutical companies to supply vaccines that will be developed if they prove to be effective and safe.
The daily EU board has already concluded deals with five manufacturers for the supply of potentially hundreds of millions of doses.