Chile securing access to potential COVID-19 vaccines, says president

Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-23 07:39:02|Editor: huaxia

SANTIAGO, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Tuesday said his government is working on securing access to eventual novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines.

Officials have met and talked with leading laboratories developing the "most promising" vaccines, Pinera told reporters.

In addition, Pinera announced an agreement with the COVAX Facility, a global initiative spearheaded by the World Health Organization and other groups to promote equitable global access to effective COVID-19 vaccines.

"This agreement with the global COVAX Facility allows us to accelerate development, and have more and better options and alternatives, and greater speed and certainty of access to a safe and effective vaccine against the coronavirus," he said.

Chile has also negotiated with Pfizer and BioNTech to access 10 million doses of its vaccine starting next year, depending on the success of the clinical trials and corresponding authorizations, Pinera added.

The government previously said it planned to buy 14.4 million doses of a vaccine co-developed by pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and complement that supply with other agreements.

Chile has reported 448,523 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 12,321 deaths from the disease. Enditem

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