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14 Apr, 6 tweets, 3 min read
President @VonDerLeyen announces 🇪🇺 has today hit the milestone of 100 vaccinations in the EU (pop 447m).

Of those, more than a quarter were 2nd doses. That means 27m Europeans fully vaccinated, 73m 1st dose only.

EU countries have received 126m vaccine doses as of yesterday.
Von der Leyen: "But as we can see with the announcement by #JohnsonandJohnson yesterday, there are many factors that can disrupt the planned delivery schedule of vaccines. It's therefor impant to act swiftly and adjust where possible"
Therefor, VDL says, EU has agreed with #BioNTechPfizer to speed up delivery. 50m vaccines originally foreseen for Q4 will come in Q2 starting now.

"I want to thank #BioNTechpfizer. It has proved to be a reliable partner, delivering on its commitments, responsive to our needs"
VDL signals EU will prioritise MRNA vaccines from now on.

"Having learned the lessons in this pandemic, we need to focus now on technologies that have proven their worth. MRNA vaccines are a clear case in point."
The EU is now entering negotiations with #BioNTechpfizer to pre-order 1.8 billion additional doses, (variant compatible) for 2022-23, VDL says.

A big rebuke for #AstraZeneca, though she says "other contracts with other companies may follow".
The news that 🇪🇺 will now focus on mRNA vaccines (Pfizer & Moderna) comes as several European countries including UK are restricting #AstraZeneca and US (which never approved AZ) has paused #JohnsonandJohnson.

The latter two are not mRNA.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/04/1…

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More from @DaveKeating

Dave Keating Profile picture
14 Apr
Belgian PM @alexanderdecroo announces a cautious relaxation of 'Easter pause' that saw schools, shops and hairdressers close again.

19 April
🏫 Schools reopen
🧳Travel ban ends

26 April
🛍️Shops reopen
💇‍♀️Hairdressers reopen

8 May
🍻 Maybe Horeca... (1/3)
A further reopening to how things were here before 31 October will depend on "vaccination milestones".

1st: When 7/10 of people over 65 have received 1st dose, bars & restaurants can reopen outside and curfew will end.

“We assume this moment will be around 8 May" says PM. (2/3)
2nd milestone: When almost all over-65s and vulnerable people have been vaccinated.

"This is expected in early June. From then on, events will again be possible and more will also be possible indoors.”

So gyms, theatres, indoor bars, clubs could maybe reopen early June. (3/3)
Read 4 tweets
Dave Keating Profile picture
14 Apr
EU governments are expected to approve a negotiating mandate for so-called EU #VaccinePassports today.

But the draft says EU countries cannot deny entry to an EU citizen who doesn’t have one. At most they can force the person to test and quarantine.

So, not really a passport.
Key to watch will be what language the Council settles on for data privacy.

Some governments want to be able to use the information in the Covid certificate for purposes other than entry.

The EU Parliament is adamantly opposed to that.
A reminder: There’s already a Covid ban on non-EU citizens entering the EU (with a short list of exceptions).

I don’t expect the ban to be removed before the end of the year. But countries may choose to recognise non-EU vaccination certificates to give an exemption to the ban.
Read 4 tweets
Dave Keating Profile picture
13 Apr
Bad news for the EU & UK's vaccine roll-out: the US has recommended pausing the use of the #JohnsonandJohnson vaccine because of reports of blood clots in young women, similar to the #AstraZeneca reports. The US has not authorised AZ.

Will EU &UK follow? edition.cnn.com/2021/04/13/hea…
Johnson & Johnson doses are just today arriving to EU countries for the 1st time. It was hoped the new availability could speed up the rollout.

EU EMA has been reviewing the J&J blood clot issue.
euronews.com/2021/04/09/eu-…
Given it didn't recommend any restriction on use of the #AstraZeneca even after it found a link between the rare blood clots and the vaccine, it seems unlikely EMA will follow the US in recommending a J&J pause.

But national authorities in EU may disregard that advice and pause.
Read 5 tweets
Dave Keating Profile picture
9 Apr
EU member states and the Commission need to take a decision now about whether they’re going to add #SputnikV to the EU joint procurement program. Otherwise some countries look set to follow Hungary and purchase their own.

But there’s a deep division on this among EU countries.
The Commission has gone out of its way to say it’s perfectly fine for Hungary to purchase Sputnik on its own since it isn’t part of EU joint procurement.

But the reality is it’s very complicated for everyone involved, and goes against the spirit of The EU joint strategy.
German MEP @peterliese, health lead for Merkel & VDL’s EPP, said yesterday he thinks the EU EMA is going to approve Sputnik.

If they do, he says, then EU countries should use it without hesitation.
Read 4 tweets
Dave Keating Profile picture
8 Apr
#Sofagate continues to escalate.

The Turkish foreign minister has lashed out at Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi after he earlier tonight lamented how VDL was treated and called Erdogan a “dictator”.
“I felt very sorry for the humiliation that European Commission President von der Leyen had to undergo,” Draghi said during a press conference earlier tonight.
“With these — let’s call them for what they are — dictators, which we however need to cooperate with...one has to be frank in expressing a diversity of views, opinions, behaviors, visions of society,” the Italian prime minister said of the Turkish president.
Read 4 tweets
Dave Keating Profile picture
8 Apr
President Michel speaking to Belgium's @LesNews24 now about #SofaGate.

He starts by expressing regret at what took place - the closest we've yet come to an apology.
"I did not stand up because it would have created an even more serious diplomatic incident," says President Michel.

"The images are brutal but do not reflect the content of our meeting," he insists. He notes the meeting was sensitive, he's trying to rescue relations with Turkey
President Michel gives same description of the premises inspection given by the Council's protocol team a few hours earlier.

"It was not possible to enter the room in question" and so the Council didn't know about chair situation before he arrived.
Read 5 tweets

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