Xinhua News Agency, Brussels, August 10 (Reporter Li Jizhi and Wang Cheng) European Commissioner Stella Kiryakidis, European Commissioner for Hygiene and Food Safety Affairs, said in an interview with the German "Business Daily" on the 9th that there are positive signs , The first vaccine to prevent new crown infections is expected to be available at the end of this year or early next year.
Kyriakidis said that time is the key to overcoming the new crown crisis. “In the process of developing vaccines, every month we speed up can save many lives and maintain people’s livelihoods.” She said that vaccines may not solve all problems at once, but once a sufficient number of people, especially risk groups, are vaccinated, people's lives can gradually return to normal.
Kiryakidis expressed concern about the overall increase in the EU infection rate. She called on EU countries to take measures to quickly isolate the source of infection and strengthen testing and contact tracing. She said that it is not ruled out that some EU member states will again adopt strict epidemic prevention measures as in March and April this year. "Uncertainty still exists, and we are now more vigilant than ever before in order to avoid a second lockdown."
Earlier, European Commission President Von der Lein stated that the EU is also conducting relevant consultations with many pharmaceutical companies. At present, the European Union has reached an agreement with the French company Sanofi. Once the company's vaccine is successfully developed and proven safe and effective, it will provide 300 million doses to the EU. In addition, AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom has also signed contracts with the governments of many European countries, promising to provide 400 million doses of vaccines in Europe.