PARIS — Sanofi will ensure that a potential vaccine against COVID-19, if approved, reaches all regions of the world at the same time, the chairman of the French drugmaker said on Thursday.
“There will be no particular advance given to any country,” Serge Weinberg told France 2 television.
“We are organised with several manufacturing units. Some of them are in the United States but even more of them are in Europe and France,” he said.
Sanofi operates 73 industrial locations in 32 countries. There is no vaccine approved yet against COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus.
The group’s chief executive Paul Hudson said on Thursday it was vital that any coronavirus vaccine reach all parts of the world, after angering the French government earlier by saying the United States would get priority access.
“The comments of our CEO have been altered. We consider vaccines as a common good,” Weinberg said.
—Reporting by Matthias Blamont Editing by Chizu Nomiyama