The European Commission announced on Wednesday 10 March that it had reached an agreement with BioNTech-Pfizer for 4 million additional doses of Covid-19 vaccine. The doses, which will be delivered over the next two weeks, should help to combat coronavirus outbreaks and facilitate free movement across borders, says the institution.
39 million doses already distributed
The increase in dose deliveries in March is the result of the successful expansion of production capacity in Europe, which was completed in mid-February, the press release explains. This number is in addition to the delivery schedule currently agreed between the Member States and BioNTech-Pfizer. It will be made available to Member States in proportion to their population.
According to the vaccination monitoring tool developed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 38.8 million doses of BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine have already been distributed to Member States and the advance purchase contract with the consortium covers a total of 600 million doses.
Russian exports and vaccines
But this announcement was partly overshadowed by new diplomatic tensions between the EU and the UK.
On Tuesday 9 March, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, stated that Great Britain was systematically blocking exports of doses of Covid-19 vaccine to reject accusations of “vaccine nationalism” aimed at the EU. London described these comments as “completely false”.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in an interview with several newspapers earlier this week, had said, “We are tired of being the scapegoat. The EU is not the scapegoat. Although the number of infections is increasing in many Member States, the mortality rate is decreasing. This shows that our vaccination strategy, which includes giving priority to the elderly and vulnerable, is the right one”.
She also gave her opinion on the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which is currently undergoing continuous evaluation at the European Medicines Agency. “We need to be informed about the sites where Sputnik V is produced in Europe. I stress this point because we are witnessing announcements of millions of doses of Sputnik V being sent to many places around the world while the vaccination rate of the Russian population is very low compared to that of other countries that produce vaccines. There is a demand for clarity about the production process”, she said, as rumours are circulating about possible production sites in Spain and France, in addition to Italy, whose announcement was made official by the Russian Chamber of Commerce on 9 March. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)