COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Conference To Take Place 21 Jan

Spokesman for the European Council President Charles Michel, Barend Leyts has stated that Michel will hold a videoconference with member state leaders at 1800CET on Thursday 21 January regarding coordination efforts for the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

• There remains pressure on EU institutions to facilitate a faster rollout of the vaccine, with some countries criticising Brussels efforts.
• Earlier today, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban blamed the EU's slow distribution of vaccines for the extension of COVID-19 restrictions in the country. He stated that due to the EU only 80k doses had been received by Hungary, necessitating the extension of restrictions to February.
• Yesterday, the German health ministry seemed to indicate that it was securing additional doses of vaccines for its citizens outside of the EU programme.
• Michel convening a Council summit may be an attempt to smooth out issues between member states in the vaccine rollout, but given the videoconference is still just under two weeks away, it may prove to be too late for those govt's mulling the purchase of doses outside the EU programme.