The EU COVID-19 vaccine purchase contracts signed in 2020-2021 covered 4.6 billion doses.

Omissions

• The €71 billion / 4.6 billion-dose figures refer to contracts signed by the European Commission on behalf of the Member States; the claim attributes the signing personally to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
• The 4.6 billion-dose figure is an upper bound ('up to 4.6 billion doses') and includes optional doses that Member States were not obliged to buy; it is not a confirmed purchase of 4.6 billion delivered doses.
• The European Commission's own website cites a lower figure of 'up to 4.2 billion doses' of COVID-19 vaccines secured, indicating that the 4.6 billion figure used in the claim is the highest available estimate.
• Both official sources describe the 2020–2021 procurement period, so the temporal framing of the claim is accurate.

Sources

• PrimaryEuropean Court of Auditors — Special Report 19/2022: EU COVID-19 vaccine procurementBy the end of 2021, it had signed €71 billion worth of contracts securing up to 4.6 billion doses. We conclude that the EU secured a diversified vaccine portfolio for Member States.
• PrimaryEuropean Court of Auditors — Special report on EU COVID-19 vaccine procurement (OP webpub)By November 2021, the Commission had signed €71 billion worth of contracts on behalf of the Member States to purchase up to 4.6 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses.
• PrimaryEuropean Commission — Safe COVID-19 vaccines for EuropeansThe European Commission has secured up to 4.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines. As of August 2023, a total of 84.8% of the EU adult population has been vaccinated.
• SecondaryEUROSAI — EU COVID-19 vaccine procurement audit databaseThe EU launched its vaccine procurement strategy in June 2020. By the end of 2021, it had signed €71 billion worth of contracts securing up to 4.6 billion doses.