PORTO – The European Union (EU) has concluded a deal with Pfizer-BioNTech to procure up to 1.8 billion extra doses of the brand’s Covid-19 vaccine, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said today.
“Happy to announce that the EU Commission has just approved a contract for guaranteed 900 million doses (+900 million options) with Pfizer-BioNTech for 2021-2023,” she tweeted from an EU summit in Portugal.
“Other contracts and vaccine technologies will follow.”
The contract, on top of the 600 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses the commission has already secured, aims to supply the bloc – population 450 million – with enough doses for booster shots, EU said.
They could also expand vaccination to minors and for exports to lower-income countries outside the EU, it added.
Von der Leyen said the mRNA technology used by Pfizer-BioNTech and other vaccine-makers has been proven safe and effective.
BioNTech of Germany and Pfizer of the United States have stepped up to supply Europe with their jointly produced doses, and their vaccine is currently the main one being used in EU.
EU roll-out accelerating
Others in EU’s vaccine portfolio include those from AstraZeneca – which delivered far below the quantities it had promised, and whose shot has been tarnished by a link to very rare blood clots – as well as from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
After a slow start, EU’s vaccination roll-out has greatly picked up speed, with more than a quarter of its population having received at least one shot.
The 27-nation bloc is on track to have 70% of adults fully vaccinated by late July, and is already cautiously reopening ahead of its vital summer vacation period.
Von der Leyen has stood by EU’s strategy of her commission being responsible for negotiating vaccine contracts for all member countries, despite early criticism that roll-out was too slow.
Europe is now debating with the US over whether lifting patents on Covid-19 vaccines could boost supplies to poorer countries.
EU has so far sent more than 200 million doses to non-EU countries, while the US has dispatched just 2.7 million to Mexico in what it describes as a “loan”.
World Health Organisation (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted that “Europe’s role in the world is more critical today than ever as we fight Covid-19”, adding that it “shows when we collaborate on common causes we are stronger together”.
EU is a major contributor to Covax, a WHO-backed facility designed to get doses to mainly lower-income countries. – AFP, May 8, 2021
