The Netherlands becomes one of the leading figures in EU Covid-19 vaccine production

Increasingly more Covid-19 vaccines are being produced in the Netherlands, the Trouw reported. Three factories have been opened in the Netherlands for the production of Moderna, Janssen and AstraZeneca vaccines.

Since March, there has been a second Covid-19 vaccine factory from Halix for the production of AstraZeneca vaccines.

The pharmaceutical company Lonza opened a brand-new factory in Geleen. Lonza has been approved to produce Moderna vaccines which will be primarily used as booster shots. The factory in Geleen will deliver more than 300 million doses by the end of the year.

On top of that, a new factory has also been developed in Leiden for the production of Janssen vaccines. The EU ordered 200 million Janssen doses from Johnson and Johnson earlier this year.

In the Netherlands, 500 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have already been produced, making them a leading figure in the EU where three billion doses are produced annually.

The EU has invested an undisclosed amount in 55 Covid-19 vaccine producers to increase the production capacity in Europe. The 55 producers are also responsible for making the materials used to create Covid-19 vaccines.

The goal is that the EU will not have to be dependent on outside players to deliver Covid-19 vaccines. The EU still relied on help from outside earlier this year to cover the demand for vaccines. The production capacity increased from 50 million vaccines in February to 280 million in June.

Critics called for the EU to shift their focus on the countries outside of Europe that still have low Covid-19 vaccination figures. The EU is the largest global producer of mRNA vaccines created by Pfizer and Moderna, sources in Brussels said according to the Trouw.