The COVID-19 vaccine developed by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca along with Oxford University is likely to get a green light in the European Union by the end of January, said European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Friday.

This comes after the EMA said it was highly unlikely for the EU to give a nod for the usage of AstraZeneca vaccine in the bloc earlier in December.

UK on the other hand had approved the AstraZeneca vaccine on December 29, 2020.

Meanwhile, according to the European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, the bloc has struck a deal to double its supply of the BioNTech/Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to 600 million doses on Friday.

“We have right now, access to 300 million doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine,” von der Leyen told a press conference, adding: “With the new agreement we could purchase a total of up to an additional 300 million doses.” Leyen told a press conference.

The 27-nation bloc has been hit with rising criticism that the vaccine rollout that started December 27 has been too slow, especially compared with countries such as the United States or former EU member Britain.