The EU has named the end date for mass vaccination of the population. Everyone should be vaccinated by the end of the summer of 2021, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton told BFMTV.
“Our goal is to vaccinate everyone who wants it by the end of the summer. And we hope that in Europe there will be as many applicants as possible,” he said. The European Commissioner stressed that he will make every effort to achieve this.
He also recalled that three vaccines have now been approved in the European Union: a joint development of Pfizer / Biontech, Moderna and AstraZeneca. Two more vaccines should be ready for use in the coming weeks.
Breton stressed that for mass vaccination of the EU, it is necessary to increase production. In his opinion, this should not be achieved through the construction of new plants: it will take about five more years.
The EU has already faced problems in the supply of vaccines for the coronavirus. 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 of supplies was a fire at a vaccine plant under construction in the Indian city of Pune.
Vaccination in the European Union started on December 27, 2020.