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This amount, which is not part of the vaccine doses already agreed, will go to the border regions of the bloc most affected to “help guarantee or restore the free movement of goods and people,” the EC president said in a statement .
The announcement came at a time when the Commission, led by Mr von der Leyen, was trying to persuade at least six member states, including Germany, to lift border restrictions on viruses, which Brussels considers excessive.
Additionally, recent Austrian and Danish leaders visited Israel to agree on a vaccine production alliance, a move that has drawn much criticism for the slow delivery of vaccines under the EC’s pre-purchase scheme.
U. von der Leyen noted that 4 million. Additional doses of BioNTech and Pfizer will be delivered “at the end of March” and will be “directed to Member States where they are most needed, especially in border regions.”
According to the official, these additional doses of the vaccine will help “fight aggressive strains of the virus and improve the situation in the hotspots.”
Mr der Leyen highlighted the sharp increase in the number of infections and hospitalizations in the Tyrol region of Austria, the Nice and Moselle regions of France, Bolzano in Italy and the regions of Bavaria and Saxony in Germany.
For this reason, “strict measures have been taken and, in some cases, border controls have been reintroduced.”
The statement noted that BioNTech and Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine had been shown to be “highly effective” against new strains of the virus.
Von der Leyen added that Member States would have the opportunity to buy part of the € 4 million additional doses in proportion to the size of the population of the country in question.
The EC presidency called the complementary agreement “swift and decisive action by the EC” and stressed that restoring freedom of movement in the EU was “the key to the functioning of health systems and the single market”.
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