Coronavirus vaccine: the president of Sanofi wants to defuse the controversy

In front of the headquarters of the pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, in Paris, on April 24, 2020. REUTERS / Charles Platiau

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After the words of the director general of Sanofi suggesting that the possible vaccine against Covid-19 would be primarily reserved for the United States, the chairman of the board of the French pharmaceutical giant ensures that no country will be privileged.

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Serge Weinberg wants to be "  perfectly clear  ". "  There will be no
particular advance from any country,  " said Thursday evening on France 2 the chairman of the board of directors of Sanofi, following the controversy sparked by the managing director of the pharmaceutical group . "  Our position has always been to consider that vaccines are a common good which should be accessible to the greatest part of the population  ".

In an interview published Wednesday by the Bloomberg agency, Paul Hudson said that the United States would be the first to benefit from a possible vaccine against the coronavirus because of their financial support for research. This priority could be a few days or a few weeks, he said.

The French executive reacted on Thursday by describing this hypothesis as "  unacceptable  " and "  unworthy  ". It is "  necessary that this vaccine be a global public good, extracted from the laws of the market,  " said Emmanuel Macron. The Elysee Palace said that Emmanuel Macron would receive the director-general of Sanofi Paul Hudson Tuesday at the presidency to discuss it, after having a telephone exchange Wednesday with Serge Weinberg.

"  The words of our general manager have been distorted,  " said this Thursday evening. According to him, the priority mentioned by the CEO of Sanofi only concerns the doses produced in American factories, "  in no case  " French and European factories.

“  We have great manufacturing capacities. We are increasing them. We are at 600 million provisional doses, we are trying to increase to 1 billion doses, so that all the countries are served at the same time,  ”announced Serge Weinberg.

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  • Health and Medicine
  • Coronavirus
  • France