MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2020) The Finnish authorities are exploring possibilities to join an alliance of four European Union member states to secure access to COVID-19 vaccines once it is available, media reported, citing an official from the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Paivi Sillanaukee.
Earlier in June, the European countries formed a group, which includes France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, and made a deal with UK drug maker AstraZeneca to buy 400 millions doses of the future COVID-19 vaccine it is currently working on.
According to Sillanaukee, it is essential for Finland to get a vaccine at the same time as other countries, the Yle news outlet reported. Moreover, the official noted that the possibility of joining the EU alliance was just one of several options Finland had been considering for acquiring a possible vaccine.
In late May, AstraZeneca announced that it had received more than $1 billion from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority for the development, production, and delivery of a vaccine against COVID-19 that is being produced by the University of Oxford.
Finland has so far confirmed over 7,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 300 related deaths. Meanwhile, the number of recoveries is at 6,600.
