Germany to start COVID-19 vaccinations by mid-December

It is the sixth supply deal the European Union has negotiated with vaccine makers to secure COVID-19 shots.

"The support of governments, partners and the private sector will be paramount to transport vaccines for deadly diseases such as measles, diphtheria and tetanus, as well as for Covid-19, as efficiently as possible", Kadilli added.

Sputnik V is developed by the Gamaleya National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Health Ministry. Its vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373 is undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials in Britain, the United States and Mexico. Dr. Bart Williams, the Principal Investigator of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine study, said his patients have been pleased with the experience.

Bancel maintained that it is a "fair price" and that the company is not interested in "maximum profit", according to the report.

"Our vaccine therefore costs about the same as a flu shot, which is between $10 and $50", Reuters quoted Chief Executive Stephane Bancel as saying.

Last week Moderna said its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19, based on interim data from a late-stage clinical trial.

The German government has launched a special program for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine for 750 million euros (892.5 million U.S. dollars), funding the German companies BioNTech, CureVac and IDT Biologika.

South Korea has unveiled a roadmap for the treatment of COVID-19 to develop plasma treatment by the year's end as well as antibody treatment and vaccines next year. Bancel told WamS that it was "only a matter of days" before the contract is signed.

The country is also according to BioCubaFarma, the management group which brings together the country's advanced bio-tech research and production facilities, oversight of the development of three other candidate vaccines which are undergoing clinical trials as well as other products created to strengthen the immune system in those at risk of mortality from the disease.

Actual purchases will be carried out by European Union governments if the vaccine is approved by the EU's drug regulator.

In a news statement, the Senate President Pro Tempore also acknowledged that "one good development is that the adults in the [Duterte] Cabinet have gotten into the act, and I hope they will dictate the tempo and not the rank amateurs of PITC [Philippine International Trading Corp.] whose stint in office has so far been unblemished with success", adding, "Kung nahihirapan ngang bumili ng suka, bakuna pa kaya?".

It added that the National Health Service had been told to be ready to administer it by December 1.