The American laboratory Pfizer, which developed with the German biotech BioNTech one of the first two vaccines authorized in Europe against Covid-19, said Thursday it had started to adapt its deliveries after having noted the number of doses available per vial.
Read also: Covid-19: are we lacking doses to vaccinate the 6.4 million priority people?
Until recently, the laboratory delivered to purchasing countries on the basis of five doses of vaccine per vial.
But vaccination centers managed to get six doses of it, fueling hopes that more people could be vaccinated.
Based on a recommendation, on January 8, from the European Medicines Agency, which "
authorized the use of the extra volume present in the vaccine vials, considering that it corresponded to a sixth dose
", it is "
therefore possible now to extract six doses and no longer five in the bottles,
" said Pfizer, Thursday, in an email to AFP.
Delay in delivery made up "
at the end of the first quarter
"
The producer therefore adapts his deliveries accordingly, which amounts to reducing the number of bottles distributed to each country.
"
We will keep our delivery commitments to states in accordance with the orders that have been placed - these have always been based on a total number of doses, not vials - and in accordance with the labeling approved in each country,
" said indicated the manufacturer in his email.
Friday, Pfizer and BioNTech had announced a drop in pace "
for three to four weeks
", arousing the wrath of European countries, already criticized for the slowness of the vaccination.
The laboratories have since announced a plan to return to the original schedule of deliveries to the European Union "
from the week of January 25
".
The delay in delivery will be caught up "
at the end of the first quarter
", also assured Monday the French Minister for Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher, saying however "
vigilant
".
According to figures released Monday evening, France had received 1.6 million doses.
Contacted by AFP, the Directorate General of Health had not yet reacted Thursday, but Tuesday, the Ministry of Health told journalists that the extraction of the 6th dose required "
a medical gesture
" and "
material
" appropriate in syringes, evoking "
a real challenge
".
Pfize-BioNTech recently raised their vaccine production target from 1.3 billion to 2 billion doses for the whole of 2021, thanks in particular to this six-dose recalibration and the expansion of production sites, says Pfizer.
The EU has secured 600 million doses of this vaccine for the whole of Europe.
In total, the European Commission has negotiated six contracts with pharmaceutical companies, and it is in discussions with two others (Novavax and Valneva), for a potential of more than 2.5 billion doses of vaccines.
