Today, the European Commission approved a fourth contract with pharmaceutical companies BioNTech and Pfizer, which provides for the initial purchase of 200 million doses on behalf of all EU Member States, plus an option to request up to a further 100 million doses, to be supplied once a vaccine has proven to be safe and effective against COVID-19.

While the Americas urgently awaits a breakthrough, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) will only support the distribution of a vaccine that has proven to be safe and effective in clinical trials, reviewed by National Regulatory Authorities and recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), PAHO Director Carissa F Etienne, said today.

A vaccine project funded by the EXIST programme initiated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Germany) is developing a second generation Covid-19 vaccine. The "Prime Vector Technologies - PVT" start-up from Tübingen is engaged in a successful demonstration of Germany's scientific capabilities. This new generation of vaccines directly addresses the most common SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The National Institutes of Health has launched an adaptive Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of three immune modulator drugs in hospitalized adults with COVID-19. Some COVID-19 patients experience an immune response in which the immune system unleashes excessive amounts of proteins that trigger inflammation - called a "cytokine storm" - that can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome, multiple organ failure and other life-threatening complications.

The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors today approved an envelope of $12 billion for developing countries to finance the purchase and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments for their citizens.

The financing, which aims to support vaccination of up to a billion people, is part of an overall World Bank Group (WBG) package of up to $160 billion through June 2021 to help developing countries fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines has authorised another Phase-1 clinical trial of a vaccine against COVID-19 in Germany. The new vaccine candidate is a so-called vector vaccine. Trials on vaccine candidates in humans are a significant step in the direction of authorising safe and efficacious vaccines against COVID-19.

64 higher income economies have joined the COVAX Facility, a global initiative that brings together governments and manufacturers to ensure eventual COVID-19 vaccines reach those in greatest need, whoever they are and wherever they live. These 64 economies include commitments from 35 economies as well as the European Commission which will procure doses on behalf of 27 EU member states plus Norway and Iceland.