The EU is about to start negotiations with a single pharmaceutical company to secure up to 1.8 billion doses of a "second generation" mRNA vaccine to combat future variants, a European Commission source said.
The upcoming deal aims to have deliveries made on a monthly schedule starting late this year and going into 2023. It is part of the commission's preparedness plan to handle "the next stages" of the pandemic as the coronavirus continues to mutate, a the source, who is familiar with the approach taken by commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, said.
The source would not say which "sole supplier" would be tapped, but did not demur when asked if it was Pfizer/BioNTech, which has already agreed to bring forward deliveries to the EU of its