Berlin, Germany:
AstraZeneca will provide 30 % more coronavirus vaccine doses to the EU than it pledged final week, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen mentioned Sunday.
The firm will send 9 million more doses and “will start deliveries one week earlier than scheduled”, Von der Leyen mentioned in a tweet just after days of tensions more than production delays.
An EU supply mentioned that the very first deliveries would start out in the second week of February.
AstraZeneca would also extend its production capacity in Europe, Von der Leyen added.
The EU leader sent the tweet just after talks Sunday with the leaders of the drugs organizations that have signed vaccine contracts the EU.
She told Germany’s ZDF broadcaster the new doses represented an improve of 30 % on the preceding order.
The aim was nonetheless to vaccinate 70 % of adults in the EU by the finish of summer time, she added.
The EU has come beneath escalating stress in current days as it was forced to revise its original vaccination targets in the face of provide difficulties.
On January 19, it mentioned it aimed to vaccinate 80 % of overall health experts and men and women aged more than 80 by March.
But AstraZeneca, whose vaccine was authorised for use in the EU on Friday, announced a 3-quarters reduce in the deliveries it had promised to the EU in the very first quarter. It blamed production difficulties at one of its European web sites.
Brussels refused to accept that explanation, demanding an inspection of the Belgian industrial web site concerned, which is managed by a sub-contractor.
Germany’s government on Sunday threatened any laboratory that failed to respect their obligations with legal action.
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