BRUSSELS: The European Commission will continue discussions with AstraZeneca with the purpose of receiving more doses of its COVID-19 vaccine than the company has so far pledged in the first quarter of the year, a spokesman said on Monday.

On Sunday, the Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said AstraZeneca had raised its target of supplies to the EU to 40 million doses from 31 million until the end of March, after a large cut last week.

Its original commitment was of at least 80 million doses, and possibly up to 120 million in the first quarter, EU sources told Reuters last week.

The offer by AstraZeneca was an improvement but "it is definitely not the amount which we expect to receive until the end of the first quarter, so of course discussions will continue," the spokesman told a news conference.