Spain blames EU for 'dwindling' COVID-19 vaccine supplies

Spain’s health ministry is blaming the European Union for delays to COVID-19 vaccine deliveries that forced Madrid to halt new inoculations and threatened supplies across Spain, Reuters reports, citing newspaper El Mundo which gained access to a leaked official document.

With stocks dwindling and new infections near record levels, regional authorities in Madrid have stopped vaccinating new people and are using their remaining supplies to administer second shots to those who have already received a first jab.

Facing criticism from some regions, the central government pointed the finger at Brussels for the supply problems in a draft agenda for a summit of regional health chiefs due to be held later on Thursday.

“It is the European Union that negotiates and signs the contracts, that is in charge of tracking them and making sure they are correctly fulfilled,” the document read, according the Spanish publication.

The EU’s vaccination programme, already lagging behind Britain, Israel and the United States, has hit further snags in the past week as pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and AstraZeneca announced planned deliveries would be severely delayed.