EU vaccine farce: Brussels could face INVESTIGATION over bungled covid jab rollout

EU 'don't have a plan' for vaccine rollout says expert

Brussels has been slapped with criticism because of the slow roll out of jabs across the Continent while the likes of the UK, US and Israel have taken great steps to get the wonder drugs into their citizens’ arms. Senior German MEP Nicola Beer is calling for the European Commission to create “immediate transparency” on eurocrats’ top secret negotiations with vaccine manufacturers. The bloc’s 27 member states all signed up to be a part of a joint procurement scheme, which has since been widely criticised.

Ms Beer has demanded “precise answers” from the Commission on the programme amid fears it could “damage the reputation of the European Union and its institutions”.

“If the European Commission fails to create clear and transparent conditions, the European Parliament must set up an investigative committee,” she told the Politico website.

EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides has been forced to defend the slow roll out of jabs across European.

She said: “I wouldn’t in any way call it a disaster.

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“Despite what we’re hearing in terms of criticism, we cannot really discard the fact that within six months, we have reached the point where we have a broad portfolio of vaccines.”

But according to the latest statistics, just over 916,000 had been vaccinated across the European Union.

In comparison, Prime Minister Boris Johnson today told MPs that 1.3 million Britons had been given their first jabs and almost five million have received theirs in the United States.

National capitals have blamed the Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency for its lengthy authorisation process.

The EU only began vaccinations on December 27, with the Netherlands becoming the final country to start its vaccination programme today.

The Commission has been quick to point out that it has secured access to “almost two billion doses” of six potential vaccines.

But eurocrats have bemoaned manufacturing bottlenecks for not getting the jabs to EU capitals in good time.

Earlier this week a Commission spokesman said: “It’s obvious that such a complex endeavour is always going to bring with it difficulties.”

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Brussels insiders are hopeful the EMA’s approval of the jab developed US firm Moderna will provide a boost for the slow vaccine roll-out.

The drug was the second to be authorised by the EU’s watchdog for us across the EU after the Pfizer-BioNTech jab was given the green light late in December.

“This vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency,” EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke said in a statement.

“It is a testament to the efforts and commitment of all involved that we have this second positive vaccine recommendation just short of a year since the pandemic was declared by WHO,” she added.

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Mrs von der Leyen said it was “good news for our efforts to bring more COVID-19 vaccines to Europeans”.

The Moderna jab was found to be 94.1 percent effective in preventing Covid.

The EMA last week claimed the jab developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford is unlikely to get a rubber stamp in the EU in the next month.

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