Four EU states urge EU to safeguard Johnson & Johnson vaccine supply

The leaders of Denmark, Austria, the Czech Republic and Greece have urged the European Commission to act quickly to secure supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. drugmaker Johnson & Johnson.

In the letter, addressed to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, they said they had been informed that the new vaccine needed to be shipped to the United States for filling and finishing.

“If this could risk EU access to the vaccines, we should consider addressing the issue already now with a view to finding solutions with the company in order to safeguard European supply,” said the letter.

It was signed by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.