European Commission Orders 1.25 Million Doses of Whole-Virus COVID-19 Vaccine

France-based Valneva SE today announces that the European Commission (EC) has approved an amendment to the Advance Purchase Agreement (APA) for its inactivated whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine, VLA2001.

Under this amendment, the Member States' purchases will consist of 1.25 million doses of VLA2001 in 2022, with the option to purchase an equivalent quantity for delivery in late 2022.

The first vaccine doses are expected to be delivered to participating EU Member States (Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, and Bulgaria) in the coming weeks.

Thomas Lingelbach, CEO of Valneva, commented in a press release issued on July 20, 2022, "We welcome the fact that the EC has decided not to terminate the APA, although we feel the order volume does not reflect the interest we see from European citizens."

"Despite this, we have decided to enter into this amendment to make our vaccine available to the Europeans who have been waiting for it."

"While the pandemic had been declining, the latest COVID-19 wave in Europe underlines the need for alternative vaccines."

About "15% of European adults are not yet vaccinated, and we continue to receive messages from Europeans who are awaiting a more traditional vaccine technology."

"Recent market studies conducted in several EU member states suggest that making our inactivated vaccine available in Europe could increase vaccine uptake and have a meaningful impact on public health."

VLA2001 is the only whole virus, inactivated, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine, which has received marketing authorization in Europe for primary vaccinations in people from 18 to 50 years of age.

It is produced on Valneva's established Vero-cell platform, leveraging the manufacturing technology for Valneva's licensed Japanese encephalitis vaccine, IXIARO®.

The vaccine was also granted conditional marketing authorization in the United Kingdom and emergency use authorization in the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Note: The company's press release was manually curated for mobile readers.