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Through the purchase of up to 160 million doses of vaccines produced by American pharmaceutical company Moderna, the EU will be able to enrich its COVID-19 vaccine portfolio, reports Xinhua.
"Only a safe and effective vaccine will provide a lasting and sustainable solution to this pandemic," noted von der Leyen.
It needs to be approved by the European Medicines Agency for safety and efficiency before any vaccine is allowed to hit the European market.
Apart from Moderna, the EU's current vaccine portfolio includes purchase agreements with AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, BioNtech-Pfizer and CureVac.
The death toll from Covid-19 reached 1,409,301 globally on Wednesday while the confirmed cases of coronavirus stood at 59,762,055, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
According to the data, COVID-19 is affecting 191 countries and territories around the world.
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