European Union Set To Purchase 100M More Doses Of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen took to Twitter to announce Tuesday that the European Union will purchase an additional 100 million doses of the Pfizer PFE-BioNTech BNTX coronavirus vaccine. 

We decided to take an additional 100 million doses of the #BioNTech /@Pfizer vaccine, which is already being used to vaccinate people across the EU.

We will therefore have 300 million doses of this vaccine, which was assessed as safe and effective.

More vaccines will follow!

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 29, 2020

This purchase brings the total doses ordered by the European Union to 300 million, with more expected to follow shortly.

The long-awaited vaccine began rolling out last week, but nations accross the European Union are struggling with shortages.

Due to a lack of supply of the vaccine, the European Union has been asked by country leaders and medical experts to approve taking an additional dose from each vial of the vaccine.

The European Union has only guaranteed five doses of the vaccine per vial; experts believe that six can be taken, according to CNBC.