EU leaders' summit tackles slow vaccine rollout, border divisions

EU leaders are meeting for a virtual summit Thursday as variants of the coronavirus continue to spread and vaccine rollout across the bloc remains sluggish.

Europe is hoping for un uptick in Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccine supplies from April, after the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca under-delivered. AFP - JUSTIN TALLIS

While ramping up vaccine production and delivery is the primary focus, the European Council meeting will also look at border restrictions and Covid-19 certificates.

Europe is hoping for un uptick in Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccine supplies from April, after the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca under-delivered.

New variants of the coronavirus are emerging fast and we must adapt our response even faster.

With the HERA incubator, we can meet the dual challenge of addressing new variants and increasing our vaccine production capacity.#HealthUnion #SafeVaccines pic.twitter.com/vC3sLyNzBJ

— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) February 18, 2021

The EU Parliament's environment and industry committees will meet with pharmaceutical leaders on Thursday to look at ways of increasing the flow of vaccines.

A single-shot vaccine by Johnson & Johnson, which US regulators say offers strong protection against severe Covid, could reportedly be approved in the EU by mid-March.

• France's family doctors to give anti-Covid vaccines in bid to speed up rollout

• As global infection rate slows, call for 'vaccine passports' in France grows

Meanwhile France and Poland are tightening restrictions amid the spread of new virus mutations – as efforts to detect and sequence more contagious variants remain slow.

Separately, Brussels has warned six governments over unilateral border restrictions.

In the lead up to summer, member states whose economies depend on tourism want to see the introduction of travel certificates that would allow for greater movement within the EU.