EC President gets 1st COVID-19 jab

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday received her first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, reported Xinhua.

"After we passed 100 million vaccinations in the EU, I'm very glad I got my first shot of COVID-19 vaccine today," she wrote on social media.

"Vaccinations will further gather pace, as deliveries are accelerating in the EU. The swifter we vaccinate, the sooner we can control the pandemic," she added.

The EU's executive chief received the vaccine a day after announcing that Pfizer/BioNTech will deliver in the second quarter of this year an additional 50 million vaccine doses, originally scheduled for the fourth quarter.

On Wednesday, von der Leyen stressed that European Union states should focus on vaccines that have "proven their worth", in an indirect reference to AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab.

Shortage in the supply of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and concerns over its "possible link to very rare cases of unusual blood clots with low blood platelets" have somewhat stalled the fast vaccination pace.

According to statistics compiled by the World Health Organization, almost three million COVID-19 deaths have been recorded worldwide, with one third in Europe.