The EU Commission has made a decision not to renew COVID-19 vaccine contracts in the coming year with AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, reported Italian daily La Stampa, citing an Italian health ministry source.

It stated that the European Commission, in agreement with the leaders of several EU countries, decided that it would not renew the contracts with the companies that produce viral vector vaccines, valid for the current year, at expiry. It added that the focus would be on COVID-19 vaccines using messenger RNA technology, such as Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. An EU Commission spokesman said that all options were being kept open in order to be prepared for the next stages of the pandemic… (ET Healthworld – Reuters, April 14, 2021)