EU member states to get first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19 vaccines are being provided for shipment to European Union member states, the Commission confirmed on Thursday.

“It’s occurring: COVID-vaccines are being sent to all EU countries,” Isaac Valero, assistant to the Commission’s Secretary-General, said on Twitter.
Member states will each receive about 10.000 doses for this first delivery on December 26, the Commission told.

Deliveries will continue in December and on a consistent weekly basis during the upcoming months. Brussels has previously announced member countries would be allotted doses based on the size of its population.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended the emergency use of the vaccination created by Pfizer and BioNtech on Monday and EU nations will commence their immunisation campaigns from Sunday.

Brussels has held several Advance Marketing Agreements for COVID-19 vaccines and settled up to 300 million shots of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine — the only one confirmed so far by European experts.

This suggests up to 150 million Europeans can accept it as two jabs that are needed for it to be more than 90 per cent efficient.

The Commission anticipates the delivery of the first 200 million doses to be completed by September 2021, and is currently “managing to activate the additional 100 million doses,” it told
.
The EMA has also made forward its analysis of the Moderna vaccine to January 6. The Commission has started a contract with the US company to acquire up to 160 million doses — enough to prevent a further 80 million Europeans.