COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark has cancelled its previously announced plans for a public tender to establish a national COVID-19 vaccine production facility as it bets on a vaccine already under development by a Danish firm, the Business Ministry said on Monday.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced in April that Denmark aimed to produce COVID-19 mRNA-vaccines by 2022, and that a tendering process would be initiated within a few weeks.
The government has since then initiated a market survey to clarify whether there was basis to start a tender, the Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs said in an emailed statement.
“Overall the assessment is that the best way to support future vaccine production in Denmark is by supporting the development of Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine candidate,” the ministry said.
It added that on this basis, there were no “current plans” for a tender.
The government announced last month it would support Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic with 800 million Danish crowns ($127.63 million) to develop its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which is heading in to Phase 2 trial.
($1 = 6.2679 Danish crowns)
(Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Editing by Jon Boyle and Matthew Lewis)
