The British government announced Monday an agreement for 90 million doses of two vaccines under development against Covid-19, that of the German-American alliance BioNTech / Pfizer and the French laboratory Valneva.
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These agreements - on 30 million doses for the Alliance between the German biotech BioNtech and the American laboratory Pfizer and 60 million (with an option for an additional 40 million) for the French Valneva - are in addition to an agreement with the British group AstraZeneca for 100 million doses of the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, considered to be among the most promising in the world.
These numbers far exceed the UK population (66 million), but it is not yet clear whether these vaccines will work and if successful how many doses will be needed to vaccinate a single person. With these new agreements, “ the government now has secure access to three Covid-19 vaccines that are being developed here and across the world, giving the UK every chance of having access to a safe and effective vaccine at faster, ”said the government in a press release.
45,000 dead in the UK
Severely criticized for its management of the crisis, which has left more than 45,000 dead in the United Kingdom, the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in April the establishment of a " task force " to accelerate efforts to develop and produce a vaccine. “ This new partnership with these leading pharmaceutical companies will give the UK the best possible chance of getting a vaccine that protects those most at risk, ” said Enterprise Minister Alok Sharma.
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The British government has also opened a registry for volunteers who would like to participate in vaccine development trials, hoping to have 500,000 potential participants by October. It has also reached an agreement with AstraZeneca for a treatment containing antibodies against Covid-19 for people who could not be vaccinated, such as patients with cancer or immunocompromised.
