Brussels, May 8 (EFE).- The European Union has signed a contract to purchase 1.8 billion vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech.

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet that the bloc had agreed a contract for 900 million doses of the vaccine, the first to be approved by EU regulators late last year, with options for 900 million more.

The deal applies to the period 2021-23, she added.

This agreement marks the conclusion of conversations that von der Leyen announced in the middle of last month to obtain booster injections or second-generation vaccines to combat mutations such as the British, Brazilian and Indian variants.

In a second tweet, von der Leyen said Europe's vaccine process was going well and that the next stages would be to secure booster shots, keep a handle on "escape variants" and extend the vaccination to children and teenagers.

The EU has given market authorization to four vaccines - Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen. EFE

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