Despite earlier promises, EU Chief Ursula von der Leyen has said the bloc cannot donate COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries while it struggles with its own supply, the Deutshe Welle reports.
According to Ursula von der Leyen, the EU will not share coronavirus vaccines with other countries until it has "a better production situation in the EU."
"There is quite a bit of pressure on member states to obtain the vaccine for themselves," she told Germany's Funke Media Group over the weekend. The announcement, which comes as the EU is facing a third coronavirus wave and renewed restrictions on public life, signalled an apparent reversal of the bloc's earlier promises.
However, the EU Chief stressed that the EU would thrust its support behind the World Health Organization's COVAX initiative, an effort to give developing countries access to vaccines.
"The EU has invested €2.2 billion ($2.6 billion) in this initiative. COVAX has already delivered 30 million doses of vaccine to 52 countries," she said.
According to Apostrophe, Ukraine will also receive coronavirus vaccines under the COVAX program - the first batch will include 1,776,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and 177,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.