The EU is to receive 50 million more doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in the next three months, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said.
Pfizer/BioNTech is to bring forward delivery of the doses to the second quarter, starting this month. Negotiations are also under way to supply 1.8 billion doses of a second-generation of its mRNA vaccine to combat variants, Ms von der Leyen said.
She said the EU is turning more heavily to Pfizer/BioNTech to make up for suspended Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses and for longer-term needs to fight the mutating coronavirus.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin tweeted that Ireland would receive an extra 545,000 doses. Delivery of them is to begin this month.