20th Aug 2020 17:03
(Alliance News) - Sweden said Thursday it had agreed to take part in the EU's deal with pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca PLC to secure a supply of a coronavirus vaccine as soon as it is discovered.
The deal means Sweden, a country of 10.3 million people, would get around six million doses of the vaccine in an initial phase, and two million more in a later phase.
"Within two weeks we will have three more (vaccine) agreements to consider, and after that there will be another three or four in a month or two. We are negotiating with everyone to make sure we are covered," Sweden's national vaccine coordinator Richard Bergstrom told reporters.
AstraZeneca said in July that its vaccine, developed together with the University of Oxford, should be available by the end of the year.
Sweden, which has made headlines for its softer approach to the new coronavirus, said on Thursday it had 85,810 confirmed cases and 5,805 deaths.
Last Friday, Astra said it sealed an agreement to supply the European Commission with up to 400 million does of its AZD1222 Covid-19 vaccine.
The pact is the company's first Covid-19 vaccine deal with the European Commission, the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant noted.
"Building on the existing agreement with Europe's Inclusive Vaccines Alliance spearheaded by Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, this new agreement will give all EU member states the option to access the vaccine in an equitable manner at no profit during the pandemic. It also allows EU member states to redirect doses to other European countries," the drugmaker said.
"AstraZeneca continues to engage with governments, multilateral organisations and partners around the world to ensure broad and equitable access to the vaccine, should clinical trials prove successful. Recent supply announcements with Russia, South Korea, Japan, China, Latin America and Brazil take the global supply capacity towards three billion doses of the vaccine."
In July, AstraZeneca ported encouraging interim results from a trial of the vaccine, being developed alongside Oxford University.
The much-anticipated findings showed that a single dose of AZD1222 resulted in a four-fold increase in antibodies fighting SARS-CoV-2, the virus strain which causes Covid-19.
Shares in the Cambridge-based firm closed 0.7% lower at 8,4549.00 pence each in London on Thursday.
source: AFP
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