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* EU secures at least 300 mln doses of AstraZeneca vaccine
* Move could weaken WHO-led initiative for global approach
* EU countries could buy additional 100 million doses
* AstraZeneca says vaccine to be sold at no profit during
pandemic
(Adds detail and WHO comment)
By Francesco Guarascio
BRUSSELS, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The European Union has agreed
to buy at least 300 million doses of AstraZeneca's
potential COVID-19 vaccine in its first such advance purchase
deal, which could weaken plans led by the World Health
Organization (WHO) for a global approach.
The European Commission, which is negotiating on behalf of
all 27 EU member states, said the deal included an option to
purchase 100 million additional doses from the British drugmaker
should its vaccine prove safe and effective.
The EU's bilateral deal mirrors moves by the United States
and other wealthy states, some of which are critical of the
WHO's initiative, and further reduces the potentially available
stock in the race to secure effective COVID-19 vaccines.
The move converts into an EU agreement a preliminary deal
with AstraZeneca that was reached in June by Europe's Inclusive
Vaccines Alliance (IVA), a group formed by France, Germany,
Italy and the Netherlands to secure vaccine doses for all member
states.
The Commission declined to disclose the terms of its
agreement with AstraZeneca but said its deals are aimed at
financing part of the upfront costs to develop vaccines. The
funding would be partial downpayments to secure the shots, but
actual purchases would be decided at a later stage by each EU
state.
"This new agreement will give all EU member states the
option to access the vaccine in an equitable manner at no profit
during the pandemic," AstraZeneca said in a statement.
The EU said it has been in advanced talks over the past two
weeks with Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi for
their vaccines under development .
It is also in talks with Pfizer, Moderna
and CureVac for upfront purchases of their potential COVID-19
vaccines, EU officials told Reuters in July.
WHO BLOW?
The EU move could complicate efforts led by the WHO and
GAVI, a global alliance for vaccines, to buy shots on behalf of
rich and developing countries with a separate scheme.
The Commission has urged EU states to shun the WHO-led
initiative because it sees it as too expensive and slow, EU
officials told Reuters in July.
Now the Commission is openly saying that vaccines bought
from AstraZeneca, and from other vaccine makers, could be
donated to poorer states, effectively taking on the very task
that the WHO is pursuing with the so-called ACT-Accelerator Hub.
Brussels has publicly said that its purchasing scheme is
complementary to the WHO's, but in private told EU states that
there may be legal issues if they joined the WHO programme.
Bruce Aylward, the WHO senior adviser who leads the
ACT-Accelerator Hub, downplayed fears that bilateral deals could
scuttle the WHO's multilateral push.
He said late on Thursday that some countries that have
reserved vaccines for their populations had also expressed
interest in participating in a global rollout.
"You hear a lot of panic about buying, deals, etc. But we
have a couple of months to work together as a global community,"
he said, adding that pooling risks and buying together was the
ideal solution.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio in Brussels
Additional reporting by John Miller in Zurich
Editing by Jason Neely, Alexander Smith and David Goodman)
