The EU’s health crisis authority will sign a contract with Seqirus next Tuesday to secure hundreds of thousands of doses of its H5N1 flu shot adapted to protect people against the latest deadly strain of bird flu — and first doses will head to Finland.
The Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) will sign the joint procurement contract with Seqirus on behalf of 15 member countries, a senior Commission official with knowledge of the matter told POLITICO.
The first batch of vaccines will be immediately shipped to Finland, the official said, where workers in mink farms are considered at risk of contracting the virus from contaminated animals.
The contract is currently for 640,000 doses, with the possibility to buy up to 40 million doses over four years.
