The EU exercised its option to buy another 100 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, bringing the total to 600 million. Combining that with the 1.8 billion dose order drafted earlier in the month, this means the EU has essentially gone all-in on mRNA. Reviewing my post on the situation back in February, this means the EU has 3.365 billion mRNA vaccine doses either delivered or deliverable. Presumably CureVac's doses are still on order as part of that sum.
The buy makes it appear that the EU has lost faith in Sanofi's protein subunit vaccine, which had trouble with efficacy in the key older group. Sanofi has since shifted gears, and on March 12 announced with partner Translate Bio, that they, too, would have an mRNA vaccine candidate, with phase 1/2 trials commencing soon (?), but these are not expected to conclude until Q3, 2021.
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