France says US priority on Sanofi virus vaccine would be unacceptable

Giving some countries such as the United States priority access to any coronavirus vaccine developed by Sanofi would be unacceptable, France's junior economy minister said on Thursday, after the firm suggested Americans could get it first.

The French drugmaker's chief executive, Paul Hudson, said on Wednesday that vaccine doses produced in the United States could go to US patients first, given the country had supported the research financially. 

Sanofi, which had already flagged this possibility in recent weeks and had urged stronger European coordination in the hunt for a vaccine, has since clarified that it would be made available to all, following a backlash in France in particular.

"It would of course be unacceptable for us if there were to be a privileged access for this or that country under pretext of a pecuniary motive, especially in the current context," Agnes Pannier-Runacher, France's junior economy minister, told Sud Radio.