EU Secures Additional 200 Million Doses of Coronavirus Vaccine

"We have activated our supply chain, most importantly our site in Belgium, and are starting to manufacture so that our vaccine would be available as soon as possible, if our clinical trials prove successful and regulatory approval is granted," said Albert Bouria, chairman and chief executive of Pfizer.

Labs around the world are racing to produce a vaccine to help end the worst health crisis in over a century.

More than 200 candidate vaccines are currently being developed with roughly two dozen at the stage of clinical trials with human volunteers.

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Countries have also been scrambling to ensure they have sufficient doses, with the world's wealthiest nations making pre-orders worth billions to secure deliveries even before the vaccines have completed tests.

Amid concern US President Donald Trump will pressure regulators to approve a vaccine ahead of the presidential election in November, the CEOs of nine companies — including BioNTech and Pfizer — this week pledged to "uphold the integrity of the scientific process".

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Specifically, the companies said they would only seek emergency authorizations for vaccines "after demonstrating safety and efficacy through a Phase 3 clinical study that is designed and conducted to meet requirements of expert regulatory authorities such as FDA", the US Food and Drug Administration. 

(Writer & Editor: DC-HMN/MFP/WAI, Agence France-Presse)

Source: http://u.afp.com/3ETa