COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Italy

The European Union on Jan. 29 backtracked on a threat to restrict exports of coronavirus shots to Northern Ireland in its growing row with Britain, as the WHO warned against "vaccine nationalism".

The European Union has confirmed it is introducing export controls on coronavirus vaccines made in the bloc, amid a row about delivery shortfalls.

The so-called transparency mechanism gives EU countries powers to deny authorisation for vaccine exports if the company making them hasn't honoured existing contracts with the EU.

The European Medicines Agency is now recommending that a second dose of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine be given three weeks after the first, as many countries consider ways to stretch scarce supplies of shots.

According to previous data, the EU managed to administer about 8.9 million doses, or two doses per 100 inhabitants. The United States and Great Britain have so far vaccinated seven, that is to say, 10.5 inhabitants per 100, respectively, and Israel is currently at 43.

Sanofi will fill and pack millions of doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine from July in an effort to help meet the huge demand for the US drugmaker's shots.

The French company will aim to help supply more than 100 million doses of the vaccine this year from its German plant in Frankfurt, CEO Paul Hudson told Le Figaro newspaper on Tuesday.

The European Union issued an angry warning to pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca on Jan. 25 over its unexpected delay in delivering millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the bloc.

The British-Swedish company's announcement "is not acceptable to the European Union," EU Commissioner for health Stella Kyriakides said after a meeting of member state representatives and the firm.

Albert Bourla, the Greek chairman and chief executive of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, took to social media on Monday to announce that his father-in-law just got vaccinated in Greece.

"This is my father-in-law, the 1st member of our family to receive his 1st dose of the vaccine," he said in a post on Twitter accompanied by a photo.