Britain has secured access to 90 million doses of potential coronavirus vaccines in deals fromĀ three biotech firms.
The Ministry of Business announced it had agreements with French group Valneva and an alliance between companies Pfizer Inc and BioNTech on Monday.
The deal with Pfizer-BioNTech will provide Britain with 30 million doses.
The other 60 million will be provided by Valneva, with an option of 40 million more doses if it is proven to be safe, effective and suitable, the ministry said.
Business Minister Alok Sharma said;
Britain would now have access to three different types of vaccines being developed domestically and around the world, and it had also launched a website for volunteers to sign up for vaccine studies.
The hunt to find a vaccine is a truly global endeavour and we are doing everything we can to ensure the British public get access to a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible.
This new partnership with some of the world’s foremost pharmaceutical and vaccine companies will ensure the UK has the best chance possible of securing a vaccine that protects those most at risk.
The deals follow a previously announced agreement with AstraZeneca to produce 100 million doses of its potential vaccine being developed in partnership with the University of Oxford.
British Government also said it had secured treatments containing COVID-19-neutralising antibodies from AstraZeneca to protect people who could not be vaccinated.
There is currently no working vaccine against coronavirus and experts say one will be needed to control the pandemic that has infected millions of people around the world and killed more than 600,000 people.
As at Monday morning, United Kingdom recorded 295,372 confirmed cases and 45,312 deaths.
