French Minister of State for European Affairs Clément Beaune announced Monday that the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna will increase the price of their COVID-19 vaccines, after adjusting them to combat the virus' variants, confirming information reported by the Financial Times.

"We have to look at all of this in a rational way," Clement told Radio France International. "We must, of course, make sure that we are not deceived, but that we come up with more demanding contracts with products that are probably more effective against the variants."

He believed that "the price will be a little higher, not only for the European Union, but for all buyers."

The British Financial Times revealed Sunday, after reviewing the contract with the European Union, that the price of the Pfizer vaccine will rise from 15.5 euros to 19.5 euros, while the price of Moderna’s vaccine will rise from 19 euros to 21.5 euros.

Clement Beaune added, "Work is underway to adapt (vaccines) to the variants. This is required in the contracts being negotiated. We also request that the bulk of production, about 300 of the vaccine components, be manufactured on European soil."

Under the joint vaccine procurement program, the EU obtained 330 million doses of Pfizer/Biontech, 100 million doses of AstraZeneca, 50 million doses of Moderna and 20 million doses of Johnson & Johnson.

At the end of July, Pfizer Laboratories expected sales of the Covid-19 vaccine to reach $33.5 billion (28.23 billion euros), far exceeding its $26 billion forecast (21.91 billion euros) two months ago.

As for Moderna, in May, annual sales of the vaccine were expected to reach 19.5 billion dollars (16.43 billion euros).