340 million doses of secure vaccines

The British government has now secured a total of 340 million doses of vaccines against Covid-19 after announcing on Friday agreements with the American laboratories Johnson & Johnson and Novavax relating to 90 million doses. Johnson & Johnson, via its Belgian subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutical, will provide 30 million doses, and Novavax 60 million, in the event that these two vaccines under development see the light of day, according to a statement from the British Ministry of Enterprise.
The UK will also co-fund a worldwide clinical trial for the vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson.
The vaccines could be delivered in mid-2021 in the United Kingdom and would be intended primarily for the most exposed populations, such as workers in the medical sector, ethnic minorities, adults with serious medical conditions and the elderly, the government said. These are the fifth and sixth such agreements for the United Kingdom after those with Sanofi / GSK, AstraZeneca, Valneva and the one with BioNTech / Pfizer. The AstraZeneca project, associated with the University of Oxford, is among the most advanced and promising in the world, with results from phase 3 trials in thousands of people expected as of September.
The number of doses secured by the country far exceeds the UK population (66 million), but it is too early to say whether the vaccines in development will work and, if successful, how many doses will be needed to vaccinate a single no one.
“Since we don’t know if any of these vaccines will work, it’s important to spread the risk,” says Kate Bingham, head of the UK’s vaccine task force.

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