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EU's von der Leyen admits vaccine rollout shortcomings

10 February 2021 19:27 (UTC +04:00)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has admitted the EU was late to authorise Covid-19 vaccines and "we're still not where we want to be", APA reports citing BBC.

She also acknowledged the EU had been overconfident about production targets being met amid delays at factories.

Mrs von der Leyen has come under fire for the EU's slow vaccine rollout.

But she was adamant that ordering vaccines collectively on behalf of member states was "the right thing to do".

Producers of vaccines including the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech jabs have postponed delivery of some of the EU's order amid issues of capacity and supply.

Mrs von der Leyen has spoken to a number of newspapers in recent days but this was her first public acceptance of criticism. Last week, she told German paper Süddeutsche Zeitung that "a country on its own can be a speedboat, the EU is more like a tanker".