Stella Kyriakides

US pharmaceutical company Pfizer has agreed to extend its contract with the European Union for the vaccine against COVID-19 from 2023 to 2026, the Financial Times reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Greek Health Minister Thanos Plevris has called on the European Commission to intervene on the matter of medicine shortages. 

The European Union has offered free Covid-19 vaccines to China, the EU executive said on Tuesday, as infections there surged following Beijing's relaxation of its "zero-Covid" policies.

The European Commission has called on EU countries to plan vaccination campaigns against COVID-19 in the autumn as a precaution before new waves of infection are expected after temperatures drop.

The EU, chaired by France, has launched a joint health union initiative with a joint declaration, said French Health Minister Olivier Veran.

The text will be called the "Grenoble Declaration" after the French city, where EU health ministers met to discuss their ambitions for closer coordination.

In six EU countries, less than 55 percent of adults are vaccinated against covid, and this poses a threat to other European countries, said EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides.

From next year, COVID certificates will be recognized as valid in the European Union only if they contain information on a booster dose in addition to the two required to complete the vaccination cycle, reports the British newspaper The Times.

The problems are almost the same as last year: the pandemic, climate change, economic growth and the deep gap between individual members.

The EU has reached on Tuesday a crucial milestone with 70% of the adult population now fully vaccinated, European Commission announced. In total, over 256 million adults in the EU have now received a full vaccine course.

Minister of Health Ioana Mihaila had a meeting on Friday with the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, in which context the former transmitted that Romania continues the efforts to increase the number of COVID-19 vaccinated people.