LONDON: GlaxoSmithKline is to manufacture 60 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by US biotech company Novavax for UK distribution, the British pharmaceutical giant said in a statement Monday.

A statement from the company said they had reached an “agreement in principe” to make the doses at a plant in the northeast of England “beginning as early as May 2021”.

British Prime Minister Johnson confirmed the news at a news conference Monday, while adding that the vaccine was still subject to approval from the UK’s independent medicines regulator.

Calling the vaccine “a potentially significant new weapon in our armoury against Covid”, Johnson said the deal would give Britain “between 50 and 60 million doses of UK-made vaccine”.

Earlier this year, Fujifilm announced it would be creating Novavax’s Covid jab at sites in northeast England.