EU expects to get more than a billion COVID-19 shots by September 2021

Source : Reuters

The European Union expects to have received more than a billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of September from four drugmakers, according to a document presented to EU leaders on Tuesday.

The document, seen by Reuters and prepared by the European Commission, shows the EU is confident of having enough vaccines to immunise its entire eligible population by that date, well beyond the initial goal of inoculating 70% of the adult population by the end of the summer.

“We are on track to reach our goal,” the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, told a news conference after the meeting with EU leaders. “If we continue like this, we have confidence that we will be able to safely reopen our societies.”

The EU expects to get 413 million doses in the second quarter, and another 529 million in the third, according to the EU document. It received 106 million in the first quarter.

By the end of the year, the EU forecasts it will receive another 452 million doses, for a total of 1.5 billion.