EU leaders want to accelerate the launch after a slow start

LONDON – The European Union must be quicker in its efforts to vaccinate people against the coronavirus, the 27 heads of state said on Thursday, as the region continues to struggle.

The EU has faced production, delivery and bureaucracy problems in the implementation of Covid vaccines and has therefore struggled to keep up with the pace of inoculation seen elsewhere.

The European Commission said on Thursday that it expects around 100 million doses of vaccines to be delivered to the region by the end of the first quarter. It is expected to reach around 500 million doses by the end of June.

“We urgently need to accelerate the authorization, production and distribution of vaccines, as well as vaccination,” EU leaders said in a joint statement.

I am particularly concerned about the new Covid variants, which are thought to be more infectious and have already been identified in European countries. A rapid vaccination process could help protect the population of the region before the virus moves significantly.

To this end, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is working with pharmaceutical companies in an effort to avoid any further bottlenecks in the delivery process and aims to have more production plants on the continent.

“Currently, 41 industrial sites contribute to the production of vaccines here in Europe, but many more could join the effort. We therefore strongly encourage cooperation between industrial actors,” said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Commission. who was a doctor. he said at a news conference.

The initial goal was to vaccinate at least 70% of the EU’s adult population by the end of the summer.

However, the health emergency of coronavirus persists in Europe, with a number of countries reporting an increase in cases in recent days.

On Thursday, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said the government was considering weekend closures in Paris and other parts of France. Meanwhile, in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned of a potential third wave of infections if current restrictions are lifted too soon.

“We see stable and declining trends (infection) in 20 countries, but rising trends in about 7 others,” said von der Leyen.

“At the same time, indeed, there is a growing fatigue of Covid-19 among our citizens,” she said, after about a year of strict social restrictions throughout the bloc.

Isolation measures, such as the prevention of non-essential travel, are an additional challenge for the EU, given its policy of free movement of goods, people and services.

Representatives of the major pharmaceutical companies involved in the production of Covid vaccines told European parliamentarians on Thursday that they work non-stop to develop and produce photographs.

The CEO of CureVac suggested that his vaccine could be approved in June. Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency is studying data from studies conducted by Johnson and Johnson and could issue market approval in a few weeks. So far, European regulators have approved the AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer jabs.