PARIS – French pharmaceutical group Sanofi has announced on Thursday that it would make its COVID-19 vaccine available in all countries when it is ready, hours after the company's CEO has said the United States will have first access.

The comments made by Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson that a vaccine would first go to the United States prompted an angry reaction from the French Government.

"It's not negotiable to have fair access to the vaccine for everyone," French Premier Edouard Philippe said in a tweet.

His office also described French President Emmanuel Macron as being "upset" by Hudson's remarks.

Macron is promoting vaccines to be deemed a "simple good" for humanity that should not be put under market pressures.

Philippe said that he spoke to Sanofi board chairman Serge Weinberg about the vaccine and received "all the necessary assurances" that it will be distributed in France.

Next week a follow-up meeting will be held at Macron's office with Sanofi officials.

Hudson told the news agency in Bloomberg that the U.S. government has the right to the highest pre-order of an potential COVID-19 vaccine "because it's engaged in risk taking."

But Sanofi then walked back from that position in a statement Thursday that said "we've always been committed to making our vaccine available to all in these unprecedented circumstances."

At the same time, Sanofi has also called on the European Commission to make the promotion of a vaccine simpler. Sanofi France 's president, Olivier Bogillot, told broadcaster France Data that the US is speeding up regulatory requirements to develop and manufacture a vaccine.

"We need Europe to do the same," he said.

Sanofi said its partnership with the U.S. agency BARDA enables the company to "start manufacturing as soon as possible." Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has funded the vaccine's development.

Sanofi has been pushing the EU for "similar measures." "We have very fruitful discussions with, among others, the EU institutions and the French and German Governments," he said.

Dozens of candidates for vaccines are being investigated around the world in earlier stages of development, but a vaccine is likely to be a year or more away.