AstraZeneca announces delivery problems with corona vaccine for the EU.
Expert Gerd Kerkhoff accuses the EU Commission of major mistakes in procurement.
AstraZeneca
announces problems in the supply chain for the
corona vaccine *
for the EU.
The
EU Commission is
calling for a “clear plan for the quick delivery of vaccine doses”.
Expert
Gerd Kerkhoff
gives the EU Commission a
"school grade of six"
for the
procurement of
the vaccine from AstraZeneca.
Berlin - “Literally every day counts”, says
medical doctor Klaus Reinhard
and puts pressure on the federal government: “Above all, the particularly endangered
population groups
and of course the employees in clinics and care facilities must be vaccinated before the highly contagious
virus variant from Great Britain can spread
further in Germany spreads “, the
President of the German Medical Association
told the
Rheinische Post
.
Personnel and infrastructure are definitely available and the more than 440 vaccination centers have long been running in "full load operation" - provided that sufficient
corona vaccine
is available.
Confusion about corona vaccine: AstraZeneca with delivery bottlenecks in the EU
On Friday, the
AstraZeneca vaccine is
the third corona vaccine to be
approved
by the
European Medicines Agency (EMA
).
“For widespread use in practices, we need vaccines that are easy to transport and can be stored without special cooling technology.
The
vaccine from AstraZeneca
seems
to meet
these requirements,
”explains
Reinhard,
and this is“ essential to achieve the goal of
herd immunity
by the summer ”.
This hope in the fight against the
corona pandemic *
- most recently vehemently
defended
by
Health Minister Jens Spahn
- seems suddenly destroyed, as the
British-Swedish pharmaceutical company
announced that it initially intends to deliver significantly less of its vaccine than contractually agreed after approval.
AstraZeneca
, which produces the vaccine in Belgium and the Netherlands, justified this with problems in the
supply chain
- in the EU, however, they now feel offended because the company in Great Britain delivers the ordered amount of vaccine on time.
Video: AstraZeneca put off EU - third corona vaccine with delivery bottlenecks
Confusion about corona vaccine: EU Commission demands clear plan from AstraZeneca
The
Federal Government
and the
EU Commission
should insist on the “contractually guaranteed delivery quantities and dates”, demands the
head of the German Medical Association
.
Meanwhile, one has already reacted: According to the
Belga
news agency
,
Belgian authorities are supposed
to
have already
examined
an
AstraZeneca plant
at the request of the EU Commission
.
On Wednesday evening, referring to the cabinet of
Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke
, it was said that they wanted to check whether the announced delivery delays were really due to problems in production.
So whether only 31 of the 80 million vaccine doses originally promised can really be delivered in the first quarter of 2021.
The
EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides
called on Wednesday on
the contract has been met and the vaccine * be delivered to the EU citizens.
"We regret the continued ambiguity regarding the shipping schedule and are requesting a clear plan from AstraZeneca for the fast delivery of the vaccine doses that we have reserved for the first quarter," added
Kyriakides
.
The fronts have hardened, especially since
Pascal Soriot,
as
head of AstraZeneca
, firmly rejects the allegations: A certain amount of vaccine has never been promised to the EU.
The Treaty is also a "best effort" clause located (
dt. "Best efforts"
).
We regret the continued lack of clarity on the delivery schedule and request a clear plan from AstraZeneca for the fast delivery of the quantity of vaccines that we reserved for Q1.
We will work with the company to find solutions and deliver vaccines rapidly for EU citizens.
- Stella Kyriakides (@SKyriakidesEU) January 27, 2021
Confusion about corona vaccine: Expert analyzes errors of the EU Commission - "School grade six!"
Compared to
Bild.de
, the
procurement expert Gerd Kerkhoff
analyzes
the big mistakes that the
EU Commission
apparently made when ordering the Corona * vaccine: "It is a complete disaster - and in terms of school grades it is actually a six!" A company like
AstraZeneca
operates - as one of the few
vaccine manufacturers
- like a “monopoly”, according to the economic expert, which the
EU
as a “buyer” should have been aware of.
The required quantity should have been ordered as quickly as possible without hoping to negotiate individual advantages.
True to the market economy principle: "Those who order earlier will be delivered earlier" - the EU is now being
supplied
later than
Great Britain
, explains
Kerkhoff
.
"I think it's sensational that we are now talking about the fact that
production
difficulties arise, but Great Britain is being supplied in full and that it is leading to a corresponding gap in the EU," says
Kerkhoff
in the
Bild interview
.
In a "best effort" contract, the vaccine * manufacturer was admitted to
delivery bottlenecks
and
production
difficulties from the outset
.
According to
the
procurement
expert
, analyzing
the crux of the matter
,
AstraZeneca
should "
do its
best" to
deliver as much to the EU as it can deliver
.
Since other "buyers" already had priority at the time of the order, the
EU
should not have assumed that
AstraZeneca would
deliver as quickly as possible without an agreement, says
Kerkhoff
about the "epochal error" that costs human lives.
It was the most important procurement process that politicians had to organize since the Second World War.
It is about economic expenditures of immense size and on the other hand we have the ethical size. "
Procurement expert Gerd Kerhoff in a picture interview
Corona vaccination: Kerkhoff calls for resignations after mistakes
For
Kerkhoff
, the negotiators deserve the "school grade six".
He is critical of the
fact that the politicians of the
EU
and the
federal government are
now trying to relieve each other and calls for the economic and health debacle to be dealt with: “I would like to
know
the
management assessment
, i.e. what led to this process, since we are currently
speak
of an increasingly long
lockdown
and ever more restrictions. "
Kerkhoff
explains:" This error can arise, but if the error has happened then I expect those responsible to say that I made a mistake and I will resign. "
( cos) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital network.