The EU closes an agreement with Novavax to acquire up to 200 million COVID vaccines

The European Commission has approved a supply contract with the US company Novavax for the purchase of up to 200 million of its potential COVID-19 vaccine, it reported on Wednesday.

Under the contract, EU member states will be able to purchase up to 100 million doses of the Novavax vaccine, with an option of 100 million additional doses until 2023, once the vaccine has been approved by the drug regulatory body of the bloc, which is currently reviewing it, the Commission said.

“Given that new coronavirus variants are spreading in Europe and around the world, this new contract with a company that is already successfully testing its vaccine against these variants is an additional guarantee for the protection of our population,” said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

The deal will allow EU member states to receive the first doses of Novavax from the last quarter of this year, the Commission said, confirming a Reuters report from May.

Novavax confirmed the agreement in a statement and said it is working to complete the submission of the vaccine data to the EU medicines regulator in the third quarter of this year, with delivery of the initial doses expected to begin after the approval.