What's the problem?

The EU approved the purchase of 300 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in December. But the company was not able to supply the 12.5 million vaccines it promised the EU by the end of 2020, due to supply chain issues.

The head of BioNTech, Uğur Şahin, told the German magazine Der Spiegel, that the delay was caused because the EU wrongly assumed that several different vaccines would be ready at once and therefore spread its orders. He also said his company was ramping up its manufacturing capacity.

Other countries that have so far been more successful in vaccinating their populations approved the Moderna or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as well.

The EU has now approved the Moderna jab and is doubling its order of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to 600m doses.

But vaccinations in parts of Europe have had to be paused after Pfizer temporarily cut deliveries to increase capacity at its processing plant in Belgium.

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What is the row over the Astrazeneca vaccine?

Supply problems have also been announced by Astrazeneca, provoking criticism from the EU after hearing it would receive a reduced number of vaccines.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is expected to approve the Astrazeneca vaccine, developed with Oxford University, this month. The EU signed a deal for 300 million doses in August.



But last week the UK-Swedish pharmaceutical firm announced that due to "reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our European supply chain" the number of initial doses for EU members would be lower.

The EU has warned that it could tighten the export of vaccines produced in the bloc. This could affect the UK, as Pfizer's Belgian plant supplies the UK.

The EU placed export controls on personal protective equipment in March 2020 that lasted for about two months. It said it was making sure member states had enough supplies by requiring the authorisation of sales outside the bloc.