Economy 16 March 2021, 1:15pm

EU agrees with BioNTech-Pfizer on 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine top-up

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The European Commission and BioNTech-Pfizer have come to an agreement on the accelerated delivery of 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for the second quarter, EC President Ursula von der Leyen has announced on Tuesday.

Ursula von der Leyen europai bizottsag vakcina pfizer biontech oltoanyag beszerzes magyarorszag 2011089

The agreement will bring the total deliveries of BioNTech-Pfizer's vaccine to 200 million doses for Q2, giving member states room to manoeuvre and possibly filling gaps in deliveries, Ursula von der Leyen tweeted.

We agreed with on an accelerated delivery of 10 million doses for quarter 2.⁰This will bring the total deliveries of this vaccine to 200 million doses for that quarter.⁰It will give Member States room to manoeuvre and possibly fill gaps in deliveries. @BioNTech_Group
— Ursula (von) March 16, 2021

She also said in a seperate statement that she is aware how critical the second quarter is for the roll-out of the EU's vaccination strategies in the Member States.

These accelerated 10 million doses will bring the total doses of BioNTech-Pfizer in Quarter 2 up to over 200 million. This is very good news. It gives Member States room to manoeuvre and possibly fill gaps in deliveries.

These doses would be drawn forward from the option of 100 million doses in the second BioNTech-Pfizer contract, foreseen for Q3 and Q4 of 2021.

Today's proposal by the Commission needs to be approved by the Member States in the joint Steering Board.