The European Union (EU) will fast track approvals of coronavirus vaccines adapted to combat mutations, said Stella Kyriakides, the bloc’s Health Commissioner in a newspaper interview, Reuters reported. 
“We have now decided that a vaccine that has been improved by the manufacturer on the basis of the previous vaccine to combat new mutations no longer has to go through the entire approval process,” she told Germany’s Augsburger Allgemeine. 
The European Commission has come under fire from EU member states over delays to deliveries of vaccines which have seen the bloc lag behind countries such as Britain, a former member, and the United States. 
While vaccinations in the first quarter of 2021 have started slowly, the second quarter would see a pick-up and by the end of September, the EU expects to have received sufficient doses from licensed producers to cover over 70 percent of its population, Kyriakides said.
She also reiterated the Commission view that closing borders was not an effective weapon against infections.