European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will hold a press conference following a telephone call meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Brussels, Belgium on December 13, 2020.
Olivier Hoslet | Reuters
LONDON – The European Union is doubling its stock of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, as concerns grow about its spread across the 27 member countries.
The vaccine developed by German biotechnology was the first to be approved by European regulators and has been administered throughout the region since December. 27. However, distribution has been uneven and the European Commission has been criticized for not buying more of the vaccine.
The Commission has argued that they have a mixed package of vaccine contracts, as requested by member states, up to 2.3 billion doses from “the most promising candidates.”
“As you know we currently have access to 300 million doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine. Now the good news is: we have now agreed with BioNTech-Pfizer to extend this contract. the new agreement allowed us to buy up to 300 million additional doses, “Ursula von der Leyen, the commission ‘s president, said at a news conference on Friday.
This would mean that the EU is on track to get 600 million doses of this vaccine. Speaking to CNBC in December, the Pfizer CEO promised to make a total of 1.3 billion doses in 2021, which would mean Europe would receive nearly half its annual output.
Seventy-five million doses of the new order will be available in the second quarter of 2021. The rest will be delivered in the third and fourth quarters.
The Netherlands only started importing its citizens this week and red tape on development places France among the main laggards in circulating the injection.
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, more than 15 million cases of coronavirus have been reported in the region to date.
European regulators approved a second coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday. The Moderna candidate is expected to be available to European citizens in the coming days.
“Europe will have more than enough vaccines within a reliable timeframe and this shows that the path we have taken in the European Union is the right one,” von der Leyen said on Friday, criticizing .