[Source: BBC]

The EU says UK-Swedish drug firm AstraZeneca will now supply an additional nine million COVID vaccine doses by March, after days of criticism of the bloc’s vaccination programme.

Commission President said it was a “step forward”.

But the 40m doses now expected are still only about half of what had been hoped, amid continuing supply problems.

The Commission has been involved in a much-criticized row with both the UK and AstraZeneca this week.

In particular, it was condemned over its threat to put checks on the Northern Ireland border to prevent vaccines produced in the EU from reaching the UK.

The border was one of the most difficult problems to overcome in the recently agreed Brexit deal, following the UK’s departure from the EU.

The EU was angry that Britain was getting its UK-made contracted supplies from AstraZeneca while it suffered a shortfall.