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ROME, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi
told European Union leaders on Thursday that the bloc needed to
accelerate its anti-COVID vaccination campaign and be tougher
with companies that failed to meet supply commitments.
"We have to go faster, much faster," Draghi said on the
first day of a summit being held via video conference.
EU countries started vaccinations at the end of December,
but have so far managed to inoculate far fewer citizens than in
Britain and Israel. Officials have blamed the slow progress in
part on supply problems with key manufacturers.
An EU official said Draghi, who took office earlier this
month, told the meeting that the 27-nation union should take a
tougher approach with companies that failed to meet commitments.
He suggested their exports from the EU could be blocked, not
just when they did not respect their supply deals, but also for
sometime afterwards, the official said.
The former European Central Bank governor also said the
Commission should look into buying more vaccines produced in
factories outside the EU once they had been approved by the
European Medicines Agency.
He urged caution with plans to send doses to third
countries, saying Europe was too far behind with national
campaigns to launch into ambitious distribution programmes
beyond its borders, the official reported.
Looking to get more people vaccinated as soon as possible,
Draghi also suggested that first jabs should be given priority
in future. At present many EU countries, including Italy, are
following drugmaker recommendations to give people two separate
vaccinations and are holding back doses as a result.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Gavin Jones)
