"As of now, and in parallel to the efforts being made on the current vaccines, we have to help industrial companies develop production capacities for second generation vaccines," von der Leyen was quoted as saying.
Chemicals giant Bayer, meanwhile, announced that from 2022 it would produce a coronavirus vaccine that fellow German pharmaceuticals company CureVac is developing.
The 44-year-old returned to Russia on Sunday from Germany, where he received treatment after being poisoned with what experts say was the Novichok nerve agent.
Ursula von der Leyen, said earlier on Friday that member states are not allowed to negotiate separate vaccine deals with pharmaceutical companies in parallel to the efforts of the EU as a whole.
Britain will leave the European single market and customs union at on Thursday, the end of a difficult year and of a post-Brexit transition period marked by intense and tortuous trade negotiations.
"We are really in a crucial moment. We are giving it a final push," said the negotiator, Michel Barnier, as he arrived to update the bloc's 27 national envoys on Brexit.