Valneva on UK order of another 40M vaccine doses

The CEO of French biotech company Valneva said they were "very pleased" the UK had decided to order another 40 million doses of their new coronavirus vaccine.

The British government placed the order as it prepares for the likelihood that repeated vaccinations will be needed to keep the virus in check.

Britain had previously ordered 60 million doses of the vaccine and retains an option for 90 million more.

The total value of the 190 million doses is 1.4 billion euros (1.7 billion US dollars), Valneva said in a statement.