European Union countries threw away 215 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine worth four billion dollars. Politico writes about this, citing its own analysis.

It is noted that in general, Europe purchased one and a half billion doses at the height of the pandemic. 

"Our figures are conservative, and the actual number of discarded vaccines is likely much higher," the publication writes.

Lithuania, Slovakia, and Romania are leading in terms of the ratio of discarded vaccines to the number of vaccines supplied to the country. Ireland, Spain and Portugal utilized the least amount of vaccines. 

The journalists point out that four billion euros is an amount equal to a large infrastructure project or the annual healthcare costs of Croatia.