The EU executive has approved a contract with US biotech firm Novavax for a potential 200 million vaccine doses as a safeguard against coronavirus variants.
The European Commission announced it had approved an advance purchase agreement that will allow EU member states to buy 100 million doses of the Novavax shot, with an option for 100 million more until 2023, once the jab has been approved by the European regulator.
The first Novavax shots are expected to be available in the final three months of this year.
In a statement, the European Commission president, 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.
The EU has already signed contracts with AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen, BioNTech Pfizer, CureVac, Moderna and held exploratory talks with Valneva.
According to Reuters, Novavax aims to complete its submission of vaccine data to the European Medicines Agency for approval before October.
Earlier this week a European Commission spokeswoman declined to comment on reports that the bloc was paying more for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Pfizer is now charging the EU €19.50 per shot, up from €15.50, while a Moderna shot costs $25.50, up from around ¢22.60, according to the Financial Times.
An EU official confirmed to the Guardian that prices in newer contracts were higher. The EU has been ready to pay to secure supplies of the messenger RNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, after several EU member states chose to restrict use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for younger age groups, over extremely rare blood clot cases.
The higher prices also reflect the EU’s desire to secure production of vaccines and components in Europe, in response to US export restrictions and a row with the Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca over which customers should have been prioritised by its UK plants.
