French pharmaceutical giant, Sanofi to make COVID-19 vaccine available — Official

French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi plans to make any vaccine it develops against the novel coronavirus available to all.

“The vaccine against COVID-19 will be made available to the public at large, regardless of nationality,” the company’s director general Paul Hudson said, according to a tweet from Sanofi France on Wednesday evening.

The message came after Hudson, in an interview with Bloomberg, said the U.S. would have priority because they were the first in line to fund the company’s research.

“The US government has the right to the largest pre-order because it’s invested in taking the risk,” Hudson told Bloomberg.

In April, Sanofi and the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline both said they wanted to work together on a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

If tests are successful, a vaccine could be available in the second half of 2021.

Sanofi said in its Wednesday tweet that its teams are making efforts to accelerate the development of a vaccine. (dpa/NAN)