The member states of the European Union (EU), will receive an additional 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the first three months of next year to hasten the pace against the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
The European Commission said, “The Commission has today agreed with BioNTech-Pfizer to accelerate the delivery of its mRNA vaccine to Member States, starting in a few weeks.
“Five million doses will be delivered in January, another five million in February and an extra ten million doses in March.
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These doses come on top of the already scheduled 195 million doses from BioNTech-Pfizer, bringing the total number of deliveries in Q1 to 215 million.
According to the executive arm of the EU, full vaccination and the roll-out of boosters remains one of the EU’s top health priorities.
Being the world’s COVID-19 epicenter for a second time, Europe is bracing for a new wave of the pandemic.
Over 529 new Omicron cases were reported in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA), on Dec.
16, contributing to an overall total of 3,158 cases caused by the variant, said the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
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Kamila/Xinhua
EU to supply 20 mln additional vaccine to fight Omicron variant
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