EU in talks with drugmakers to secure potential Covid-19 vaccines: Report

The multiple talks confirm the bloc's more assertive stance on procuring potential Covid-19 shots and drugs after Washington's early moves in securing promising treatments and vaccines

The European Union is negotiating advance purchase deals of potential Covid-19 vaccines with drugmakers Moderna, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson and biotech firms BioNtech and CureVac, two EU sources told Reuters.

The talks follow a deal reached in June by four EU states with AstraZeneca for the upfront purchase of 400 million doses of its potential Covid-19 vaccine, in principle available to all 27 EU nations.

The information on the ongoing talks was shared by the European Commission, the EU executive arm, with EU health ministers at a meeting in Berlin on Thursday, the sources said.

The multiple talks confirm