EU's von der Leyen gets 1st Covid jab

Brussels, April 16 (IANS) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has received her first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine."After we passed 100 million vaccinations in the EU, I'm very glad I got my first shot of Covid-19 vaccine today," she said in a tweet on Thursday."Vaccinations will further gather pace, as deliveries are accelerating in the EU. The swifter we vaccinate, the sooner we can control the pandemic," she added.The European Union's executive chief received the vaccine a day after announcing that Pfizer/BioNTech will deliver in the second quarter of this year an additional 50 million vaccine doses, originally scheduled for the fourth quarter, reports Xinhua news agency.On Wednesday, von der Leyen stressed that the EU member states should focus on vaccines that have "proven their worth", in an indirect reference to the AstraZeneca jab.Shortage in the supply of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and concerns over its "possible link to very rare cases of unusual blood clots with low blood platelets" have somewhat stalled the fast vaccination pace.
--IANS ksk/