President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced on Wednesday an agreement with the laboratory BioNTech-Pfizer for the supply in March to EU countries of four million additional doses of its vaccine. These doses will be available “before the end of the month”, in addition to the deliveries already planned, and distributed in proportion to the population of the Member States, it is specified in a press release.
“This will help Member States in their efforts to contain the spread of new variants of the virus and help restore the free movement of goods and people,” said Ursula von der Leyen. The Commission expresses concern about several ‘hot spots’ in the EU for contamination, such as ‘Tyrol in Austria, Nice and Moselle in France, Bolzano in Italy and parts of Bavaria and Saxony in Germany’ .
A fourth vaccine authorized in March?
Many Member States have also seen the number of infections and hospitalizations increase in recent weeks, leading some of them to impose new border controls. The Commission announced in early February that it would expect the delivery of around 55 million doses in March, an unrevised figure.
It expects a rise in vaccine deliveries in the second quarter, with 300 million doses, or 100 million per month on average, according to estimates by Ursula von der Leyen unveiled in the German press on Monday. Three vaccines have already been approved by the EU and that of Johnson & Johnson should receive the green light from Brussels in March. AstraZeneca has pledged to deliver 180 million doses to Europeans in the second quarter, while Pfizer-BioNTech must supply at least 75 million, according to an additional agreement signed with Brussels, in addition to unknown volumes included in the first contract. The figures for Moderna are not known.
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