Europe Plans to Become World’s Biggest Vaccine Producer by Summer: Macron
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – In the next few months, Europe plans to become the continent that produces the biggest number of anti-coronavirus vaccines, French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters after the first day of the online EU summit on Thursday.
"By this summer, Europe will become the continent that produces the biggest number of (anti-coronavirus) vaccines," he said, TASS reported.
The French leader admitted that Europe was behind certain regions of the world in terms of vaccinating its population, but "this gap has been closed by now."
"Europe will be able to produces sufficient doses to ensure collective immunity on its territory," he said. "Europe is the only continent having its own strategy and its own diplomacy regarding vaccines."
In his words, the sector of vaccinations is witnessing "a world war of a new type."
"We are witnessing destabilization attempts by Russia and China, the desire to exert influence with the help of vaccines. Against this background, we would like to produce enough vaccines to meet our needs," Macron added.
On March, EU’s Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton declared that the EU does not need Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. When asked whether the vaccine can be used to recover the deficit of the vaccines in the EU, he informed that the European Commission has no doubts about the quality of Sputnik V, however, it is aware that Russia has difficulties when it comes to the production of the vaccine. Russian President Vladimir Putin later commented on this statement, stressing that Russia is not imposing its vaccines on anyone, however, such statements make people think that EU officials defend the interests of separate countries and not of European citizens.
