EU leaders seek ways to speed up vaccine rollout in race against variants

FILE PHOTO: European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium August 21, 2020. REUTERS/Yves Herman//File Photo

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders met on Thursday to find ways to speed up the production and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in a race against the emergence of new variants that some fear could bring a third wave of the pandemic to the continent.

The executive European Commission told leaders 51.5 million doses of vaccines have so far been delivered to the bloc and 29.17 million administered, with about 5% of citizens having had their first dose, according to figures seen by Reuters.