Thread by @euronews

Here's a look at how EU countries procured and received COVID-19 vaccine doses.

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The EU invested €2.7 billion on vaccine agreements. Critics say production and delivery delays could have been avoided if the EU included penalties if companies did not produce the agreed-upon doses.

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The Commission says the vaccine dose allocations are based on population data per member state.

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The vaccine delivery schedules are determined between each member state and the vaccine companies. A spokesperson for the EU said that the Commission has been "kept aware of schedules”.

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The supply chains for these vaccines are complex and span multiple countries. Here’s a look at the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine supply chain.

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The Johnson & Johnson vaccine will travel to multiple countries and sites during the manufacturing process, with the first jabs arriving in EU countries by April 19.

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So why has the rollout been so slow? One reason is that the EU was slower to approve the first coronavirus vaccines than the UK and the US.

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The approval delay is in part because the European regulator requires input from every member state. The EU also wanted to ensure that the drugmaker will be held liable if anything with the vaccine goes wrong.

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Some of the blame could be placed on late vaccine contracts, experts say.

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AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot has said the reason for delays to vaccine dose deliveries was in part due to the EU's contract coming months after the UK’s.

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Some of the blame for the slow rollout fell on member states, especially early on, as bureaucratic difficulties hampered EU countries.

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Read our full story on the reasons behind the EU's slow rollout below 👇

euronews.com/2021/01/29/why…