Karin Hildebrand, a doctor in an intensive care unit (ICU) in Stockholm’s Sodersjukhuset hospital walks in a corridor before treating patients with COVID-19 on June 11, 2020, during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP.

Sweden said Thursday it had agreed to take part in the European Union’s deal with pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca to secure a supply of a coronavirus vaccine as soon as it is discovered.

The deal means Sweden, a country of 10.3 million people, would get around six million doses of the vaccine in an initial phase, and two million more in a later phase.

“Within two weeks we will have three more (vaccine) agreements to consider, and after that there will be another three or four in a month or two. We are negotiating with everyone to make sure we are covered,” Sweden’s national vaccine coordinator Richard Bergstrom told reporters.

AstraZeneca said in July that its vaccine, developed together with the University of Oxford, should be available by the end of the year.

Sweden, which has made headlines for its softer approach to the new coronavirus, said on Thursday it had 85,810 confirmed cases and 5,805 deaths.

AFP