BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission said on Thursday it had concluded preliminary talks with U.S. pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson to buy upfront 200 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
The EU executive arm said this could pave the way for the signing of a contract that would allow EU countries to buy the vaccines or donate to developing countries.
The commission said that once the vaccine has proven to be safe and effective against COVID-19, the Commission would have a contractual framework in place for the initial purchase of 200 million doses on behalf of all EU states, and could further purchase up to an additional 200 million vaccine doses.
The move follows a similar announcement in July about the conclusion of preliminary talks with Sanofi SA and GlaxoSmithKline Plc for the purchase of 300 million doses of their potential COVID-19 vaccine.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Elaine Hardcastle)
