If the European Union proves to be “as effective” in financing its development, the possible future vaccine against the Covid-19 by Sanofi will not be distributed as a priority in the United States, said Olivier Bogillot, the director general of Sanofi France, this Thursday on BFMTV.
“The Americans are effective at this time. The EU needs to be as effective in helping us make this vaccine available very quickly, ”he said. On Wednesday, Sanofi general manager Paul Hudson announced that he would give priority to distributing a possible vaccine in the United States, because the American authorities have invested financially to support the research of the pharmaceutical giant.
Europeans to "work as fast as Americans"
He had specified that this advance could be a few days or a few weeks. But such a possibility was judged Thursday "unacceptable" by the Secretary of State for the Economy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, who said that she immediately contacted Sanofi. Asked many times about a gap between the United States and the European Union, the boss of Sanofi in France refrained from a clear denial, nevertheless ensuring that such treatment would ultimately be "accessible to all".
"The objective is that the vaccine is available both in the USA in France and in Europe in the same way," he said. But, in reality, this will be possible "if the Europeans work as quickly as the Americans," said Olivier Bogillot.
A vaccine available within 18 to 24 months
However, "the American government mobilized itself very early on financially", he stressed, stressing that the USA had already planned to pay "several hundred million euros". In contrast, "we are in talks with the European authorities (...) and certain EU states such as France and Germany to speed things up," he continued, noting that it was also to facilitate regulatory procedures.
Regarding the research itself, Olivier Bogillot confirmed that the objective remained the development of a usable vaccine within 18 to 24 months, stressing that such a calendar is extremely accelerated compared to normal, which revolves around 'ten years.
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