Within the next few months, the Covid-19 vaccine "VLA2001" from the French biotech company Valneva should be ready for distribution. It is the only European candidate vaccine that works with an inactivated virus.
The United Kingdom shall be the first to receive the vaccine doses, before any other country, even France: the producing country. The British government has funded Valneva's research, and the company owns facilities in France, Austria, Scotland, and Sweden.
In July 2020, the British government pre-ordered 100 million doses of VLA2001. It has also reserved 90 million additional doses to be delivered between 2023 and 2025.
Any orders from the European Union will only be delivered from 2022 onwards.
Results of the VLA2001 Phase 1/2 clinical trials are expected in May 2021. If all goes according to plan, a marketing authorization could be granted to Valneva in H2 2021.
Read also | Covid-19 vaccine: number of doses ordered per country and per laboratory [4]