The European Union has signed an agreement with BioNTech – Pfizer to receive an additional 50 million doses of coronavirus vaccine in the second quarter of this year, said on Wednesday, April 14, the head of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen at a briefing in Brussels, which was broadcast in Twitter.
“Some manufacturers continue to delay vaccine shipments. However, we have reached an agreement with Pfizer, which will supply the EU with an additional 50 million doses of vaccine in the second quarter, bringing its supply to the EU to 250 million doses, ”she said.
The head of the EC stressed that this decision will compensate for the problems with the supply of the drug to the American company Johnson & Johnson.
Earlier on Wednesday, La Stampa, citing a source in the Italian Ministry of Health, reported that the EC would not renew contracts for the supply of vaccines with AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson in 2022.
A day earlier, the United States officially recommended that Johnson & Johnson suspend vaccination with its drug due to the discovery of thrombosis in six people after vaccination. In turn, the manufacturing company announced the suspension of the introduction of the drug in European countries in connection with the incident.
On the same day, the United States announced the death of one of six patients with thrombosis after being vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson. It is clarified that another woman is in serious condition.
In March, a number of European countries stopped using the drug Astrazeneca due to the increased incidence of thrombosis after vaccination. So, in Denmark, a patient died after being vaccinated with AstraZeneca. In Norway, three health workers were admitted to hospital with blood clots after being vaccinated, one of them died. Similar cases have been identified in Slovakia, Italy and other states. However, later vaccination in a number of countries was resumed on the recommendations of the EMA and WHO.