Answer given by Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission
10.6.2021
Via the EU vaccine strategy[1], the Commission has secured access for Member States to COVID-19 vaccines as soon as they become available.
The Commission has concluded advance purchase agreements (APAs) with six vaccine manufacturers and negotiations are advancing with additional companies to secure more doses.
The APAs contain binding orders concerning both the number of vaccine doses to be delivered and the timing of deliveries. What matters is that the six companies fulfil their legal obligations.
In line with the EU vaccine strategy agreed with Member States, once authorised and produced, each vaccine will be available to Member States at the same time based on population size.
The Commission is doing everything to support the roll-out of vaccines in Europe, including increasing the availability of vaccines in the coming weeks and months. The Commission and BioNTech-Pfizer came to an agreement[2] to accelerate the delivery of 10 million doses for the second quarter of 2021.
On 14 April 2021, the Commission announced[3] that 50 million additional doses of BioNTech-Pfizer vaccines will be delivered in the second quarter of 2021. Additionally, the Commission approved a third contract with BioNTech-Pfizer that will foresee the delivery of 1.8 billion doses of vaccines over the period of 2021 to 2023.
The Commission assures that it is fully committed to the rapid delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and is working with manufacturers to accelerate production.