For getting up to 160 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, the European Union on Tuesday said it would sign a sixth contract with the US pharmaceutical company Moderna. 

“According to the results of clinical trials, this vaccine could be highly effective against Covid-19,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.

Among the leading vaccine candidates, Moderna has announced that its COVID-19 vaccine is 94.5% effective in preventing coronavirus. Leyen said, “Once the vaccine is indeed proven as safe and effective, every member state will receive it at the same time on a pro rata basis.”

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The EU will sign the contract with Moderna on Wednesday after which the details of it, including the purchasing options will be announced.

Brussels has previously signed contracts for hundreds of millions of doses of possible future vaccines from Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi-GSK, AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BionNTech, and CureVac.

The EU President has said that approval by the European Medicines Agency can be given to the most promising vaccine candidates, which have already submitted data from clinical trials. 

“Between us we are setting up one of the most comprehensive Covid-19 vaccine portfolios in the world. This provides Europeans access to the most promising future vaccines under development so far,” she said.

“Of course, all vaccines from our portfolio will be evaluated very carefully by our European Medicines Agency, the EMA,” she added.

“They will be only authorised and placed on the market if they are safe and if they are effective. Transparency here is crucial and of utmost importance.”