EU clears vaccine sites to boost inoculation drive

FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a small bottle labelled with a "Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine" sticker and a medical syringe in this illustration taken October 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

BRUSSELS/BARCELONA (Reuters) - The European Medicines Agency approved on Friday two factories for the production of COVID-19 vaccines, with the European Union banking on them to boost deliveries in the second quarter and accelerate the slow pace of inoculations in the bloc.

The EMA said in statement it had cleared the Halix production site in the Netherlands that makes the AstraZeneca vaccine and a facility in Marburg in Germany producing BioNTech/Pfizer shots.