The European Union signed a framework contract for 665,000 doses of the influenza vaccine Seqirus to protect adults against H5 strains of the influenza A virus. Stella Kyriakides, the EU commissioner for health and food safety, announced the agreement to secure over 40 million doses for higher-risk groups such as poultry workers and veterinarians. The Seqirus vaccine is the only preventive zoonotic avian influenza vaccine currently authorized in the EU, with the first shipment going to Finland and involving 15 EU and EEA member states. Meanwhile, in the US, CSL Seqirus will deliver approximately 4.8 million doses of a pre-pandemic vaccine matched to the H5 strain, marking its fourth collaboration with BARDA on avian influenza preparedness.
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