Vienna, Mar 6 (IANS): Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced that a company will contribute 5 million more Covid-19 vaccine doses to the European Union (EU) after it managed to increase its production.

Polymun Scientific, the company specialising in the production of lipid nanoparticles for the BioNtech/Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, would increase its production from over 15 million doses to 20 million doses for the EU by the summer, Xinhua news agency quoted Kurz as saying at a press conference on Friday.

"I am pleased that we have succeeded in securing the delivery of five million additional doses with the help of the EU and thus 100,000 more vaccination doses for us in Austria," he said.

He noted that Austria is still waiting for the "ketchup bottle effect" -- in other words, enough doses to vaccinate as many people as possible quickly.

He also explained that his meeting on Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen had focused on joint vaccine production for the coming years.

Regarding vaccine procurement, the Chancellor said that talks are currently being held with Russia and China.

According to Kurz, everything that helps in this phase is good, because it is not about geopolitical issues, but "how to save as many lives as possible and return to normal as quickly as possible".