The EU announced on Friday that it had struck a deal with French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi for 300 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine, AFP reports.

The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm which negotiated the agreement, said it would allow all 27 member countries to purchase the vaccine once it was proven to be safe and effective.

The announcement comes on the same day the US government said it would provide up to $2.1 billion to Sanofi and GSK for the development of a Covid-19 vaccine, as the world continues to battle the pandemic.

As official data revealed coronavirus lockdowns had caused a devastating 12 per cent economic contraction in the EU in the second quarter of 2020, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc was doing everything it could to help find a vaccine.