Last Friday (November 13th this year) a meeting was held in the form of a videoconference between Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and representatives of the Polish government with AstraZeneca. Cooperation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland was discussed, including joint efforts to ensure access to a vaccine against this disease.

Apart from the prime minister, the Polish government was also represented by the Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski, and the President of the Medical Research Agency, Radosław Sierpiński. On the side of AstraZeneca, the event was attended by President Leif Johansson, Radu Rasinar - Vice President of AstraZeneca for Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic States and Piotr Najbuk, director of Public & Government Affairs, Poland.
 
During the meeting, cooperation on combating the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland was discussed, including joint actions to ensure access to the COVID-19 vaccine and AstraZeneca's activities related to the announced in January this year. in Davos as an investment. Cooperation was also officially initiated as part of the Warsaw Health Innovation Hub.
 
AstraZeneca has tackled the pandemic challenge primarily by undertaking research and development work on the COVID-19 vaccine in conjunction with the University of Oxford. - The data from phase I-II clinical trials are promising, and now we are entering the advanced phase of research conducted in many countries. Our priority is to deliver an effective and safe vaccine, and to work with governments and international organizations to ensure widespread and equitable access to vaccination for patients around the world, said Leif Johansson, president of AstraZeneca.

The meeting also discussed the Warsaw Health Innovation Hub (WHIH) project, AstraZeneca's original initiative, developed in cooperation with the Medical Research Agency, whose idea is a close public-private partnership, allowing for the identification of the most pressing problems in the healthcare system and their quick and effective solution. AstraZeneca has been successfully implementing similar projects with the governments of many other countries.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Morawiecki expressed his support for the initiative, stressing that "the involvement of modern pharmaceutical technologies in Poland, especially in such difficult and uncertain times, is extremely important as it positively affects the development of the economy. Initiatives such as the Warsaw Health Innovation Hub strengthen the healthcare system. but they also influence the innovation ecosystem, which is important for Poland. "