EU to donate another 200 mln COVID-19 vaccine doses

STRASBOURG: The European Union will donate a further 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to poorer countries and close gaps in its own vaccination coverage, the EU executive chief said on Wednesday.

Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament in a speech in Strasbourg that the EU's first pandemic priority was to speed up global vaccination, given less than 1% of doses globally administered had been in low-income countries.

The European Commission, she said, will donate 200 million doses to low-income countries by the middle of next year, on top of 250 million doses already pledged.