The European Commission (EC) has approved the use of a third coronavirus vaccine in the EU market. This was announced by the head of the EC Ursula von der Leyen in her Twitter -account.
Ursula von der Leyen noted that AstraZeneca’s drug was approved for use in the EU after it received a positive assessment from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). She also added that she expects an estimated 400 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to be delivered under existing agreements.
It is noted that vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna have already been approved in the EU.
In recent weeks, the EU has faced a number of challenges in the supply of coronavirus vaccines. So, on January 15, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced its decision to reduce the supply of the drug to European countries while modernizing its production. Then on January 23, the Bild newspaper reported that AstraZeneca would not be able to deliver the expected number of doses of its vaccine to European countries. One of the reasons for the disruption to supplies is a fire at a vaccine plant under construction in the Indian city of Pune.