Pfizer to deliver over 200 million vaccines to EU in Quarter 2

Dr Nuala O'Connor about to administer the first dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine at Elmwood Medical Practice, Frankfield, Cork.

The European Commission has reached an agreement with Pfizer/BioNTech for accelerated delivery of 10 million doses for Quarter 2.

The accelerated 10 million doses will mean the EU will receive a total of over 200 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine produced by BioNTech and Pfizer in the second quarter.

These doses would be drawn forward from the option of 100 million doses in the second Pfizer/BioNTech contract, foreseen for quarters three and four of this year.

Commenting on the announcement, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was "very good news."

“I know how critical Quarter 2 is for the roll-out of our vaccination strategies in the Member States," she said, adding that the accelerated doses will give EU Member States "room to manoeuvre and possibly fill gaps in deliveries.” 

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

Ireland has temporarily suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine while reviews are done into a small number of blood clotting incidents in vaccinated people in other countries.

According to the National Immunisation Advisory Committee, there had been no reports of similar events received in Ireland as of yesterday evening.

Over 124,000 doses of AstraZeneca have been administered in the Republic so far.