Leaders of the 27 EU member nations vowed Thursday, in a video conference, to accelerate the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and agreed to keep "tight restrictions" on public life and free movement as the bloc races against the emergence of new variants that are holding back an economic rebound.

"We have to prepare for a situation where we have to continuously vaccinate for a longer period of time, maybe over years, due to new coronavirus variants," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

French President Emmanuel Macron also said the EU "will have to live with this virus" over the long term.

Italy's new Prime Minister Mario Draghi called for a much tougher stance from the EU towards pharmaceutical companies producing the vaccines after a stuttering start to deliveries of jabs.

The executive European Commission said that 51.5 million doses of vaccines had so far been delivered across the EU and 29.17 million administered, with about 5 percent of citizens having had their first dose.

Summit Chairman Charles Michel said the bloc wanted "more predictability and transparency" from pharmaceutical companies that failed to deliver contracted vaccine volumes, putting at risk the EU's target of inoculating 70 percent of its adult population by the end of the summer.

Faced with a pandemic that has killed more than 900,000 people in Europe and thrust the continent into its deepest recession, EU leaders agreed to work on vaccine certificates, which southern countries hope will unlock tourism this summer.

Merkel said technical work on so-called vaccine "passports" should be completed by the summer but some countries - including France and Belgium - are concerned that easing travel for people who have been inoculated would discriminate against others.

Macron insisted the EU members should move in lockstep, adding that "none of us will accept that to attract tourists, one country would have looser rules than another and would be taking risks by making people come from the other side of the world to fill up its hotels."

Merkel said she did not currently expect to impose tighter restrictions on the French Moselle region bordering Germany as the bloc treads a fine line between restrictions to stop the spread of infections and keeping borders open to ensure the smooth flow of goods and services across the single market.

Although infection rates are heading down in about 20 EU member states, there are concerns about fresh spikes as the coronavirus variant first detected in Britain spreads rapidly.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that that variant was present in 26 of the EU's 27 countries, while the so-called "South Africa variant" was found in 14 and a third variant first found in Brazil was in seven.

"There is growing COVID fatigue," she said. "But we should not let up now. Not only does the situation remain serious in many parts of Europe but we must also watch for the new variants that are spreading."

(With input from Reuters, AP)