(Adds details)
April 6 (Reuters) - Most European Union states will have
enough COVID-19 vaccines to immunize the majority of their
people by the end of June, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday,
citing an internal memo.
Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands will be in
a position to fully inoculate more than 55% of their populations
by June end, the report https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-06/eu-will-near-virus-immunity-by-end-june-internal-memo-shows?sref=SCAzRb9t
added, citing projections in the memo by the EU executive, the
European Commission.
The numbers confirm public estimates of vaccines the
27-nation bloc expects to receive in the second quarter.
The Commission has repeatedly said the EU, with a population
of nearly 450 million, is to receive about 360 million doses by
the end of June in addition to about 100 million already
shipped.
That would be sufficient to meet its target of vaccinating
at least 70% of the bloc's adult population by the summer.
The bloc expects to receive in the April-June period 55
million doses of the single-dose vaccine developed by Johnson &
Johnson, and another 300 million of two-dose shots from
BioNTech-Pfizer , AstraZeneca and
Moderna.
It is however unclear whether all expected doses will be
delivered in line with timetables. The EU received about half of
the expected doses in the first quarter because AstraZeneca made
major cuts in its supplies to the EU then.
The new estimates already factor in a further major cut in
AstraZeneca supplies in the second quarter.
The EU has coordinated the purchase of vaccines with EU
governments but has no power on vaccination plans, which are run
by EU states.
Roll-outs depend on supplies but also on vaccination
programmes, which have often been hampered in EU states because
of safety and effectiveness concerns over the AstraZeneca
vaccine.
The vaccine roll-out picked up in the bloc at the end of
March after a slow start.
(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; additional reporting
by Francesco Guarascio in Brussels; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne
and Giles Elgood)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
