European Union leaders have vowed to accelerate the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines as concern mounts about the spread of new variants of the virus.
European Union leaders have vowed to accelerate the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines as concern mounts about the spread of new variants of the virus. They said that restrictions, including on travel, should remain in place in many parts of the 27-nation bloc. Covid-19 has killed more than 531,000 people across the EU. “Our top priority now is speeding up the production and delivery of vaccines and vaccinations,” EU Council President Charles Michel said, adding a warning for vaccine makers: “We want more predictability and transparency to ensure that pharmaceutical companies comply with their commitments.” The European Commission has sealed deals with several companies for well over 2 billion vaccine shots — far more than the EU population of around 450 million — but only three have been authorised: jabs from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca. Officials say the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be approved next month. But some senior officials at the big pharmaceutical companies, a few of whom were grilled by EU lawmakers not far from where Mr Michel was chairing the video-conference summit in Brussels, said it is no simple matter to build new vaccine production sites.
