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BERLIN, Feb 23 (Reuters) - The European Union's most senior
administrator said she would happily receive AstraZeneca's
coronavirus vaccine as officials rushed to find ways of
ensuring doses refused by skittish Germans did not go to waste.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen's
remarks came amid growing concerns that unfavourable comments by
top European officials including French President Emmanuel
Macron had slowed take-up of one of only three vaccines
currently approved EU-wide.
Earlier this month, Macron said Britain had taken a risk in
authorising AstraZeneca so rapidly. A German official study also
found evidence that, though effective, the vaccine has more
severe side effects than its two main rivals.
"I would take the AstraZeneca vaccine without a second
thought, just like Moderna's and BioNTech/Pfizer's
products," von der Leyen told the Augsburger
Allgemeine.
The endorsement is all the more striking for coming a month
after the European Commission that she heads entered into sharp
correspondence with AstraZeneca over suggestions, denied by the
company, that the British-Swedish company had prioritised
Britain over the EU in delivering the vaccine.
The Commission has been criticised over the slow pace of
vaccination across the 27-member-bloc, with critics saying it
failed to secure sufficient early supply of the vaccines that
leaders are banking on to bring an end to the pandemic that has
devastated the continent's economy.
In Germany, where a widespread preference for the
German-designed BioNTech vaccine has led to a growing number of
unused AstraZeneca doses, officials and politicians competed to
suggest ways of making sure they did not go to waste.
Berlin's Social Affairs Senator Elke Breitenbach said unused
doses should be given to the 3,000 homeless living in the city's
emergency accommodation. "We shouldn't forget those who don't
have a loud lobby behind them," she told Funke Media Group.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer had earlier said unused
vaccines should go to the police.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
