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Vaccine: delivery delays worry the Twenty-Seven

2021-01-21T19:13:50.912Z


Many European leaders complain about the impact of the reduction in volumes delivered by Pfizer, which also benefits from the passage from 5 to 6 doses per vial.


Correspondent in Brussels,

Ursula von der Leyen on the report.

While Brussels is piloting the purchases of anti-Covid vaccines on behalf of EU Member States, the President of the European Commission was forced Thursday evening to explain the delays in deliveries of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, during 'a new video conference of the Twenty-Seven devoted to the pandemic.

As the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, had "

invited

" her, the former German Minister of Defense drew up "

an inventory concerning the deployment of vaccines

" and "

the future increases in the capacity of production

”.

Read also:

Covid-19: the Pfizer vaccine is reorganized to ramp up

Pfizer announced at the end of last week and without warning a delay of three to four weeks in its deliveries of vaccines - finally reduced to one week.

In the capitals, the procrastination of the American giant has gone badly.

All the more so since the EU has long put in place the means to help laboratories strengthen their production capacities.

An envelope of 2.9 billion euros - 2.15 billion financed from the European budget and 750 million provided by the Member States - has been released for this purpose.

And a large part of this windfall has already been paid to the laboratories concerned, including therefore to Pfizer and BioNTech.

Several countries are ready to help more.

Brain teaser

However, some Member States found themselves in the water at the start of the week, with 35 to 40% fewer doses on average.

In Belgium, 60,000 doses were delivered instead of the 100,000 expected.

In France, only 385,000 of the 520,000 announced.

In Italy, where the government plans to prosecute, expected deliveries have been cut by 29%.

Denmark claims to have reduced its vaccination targets against Covid-19 in the first quarter by 10%, because of this temporary reduction in deliveries.

It is easy to imagine the puzzle facing the capitals.

It's not really great.

People make appointments to be vaccinated and we are forced to explain to some of them that they will have to come back,

”sighs a European diplomat.

And as if that were not enough, the number of doses per Pfizer / BioNTech vial has been revised upwards: six instead of five previously.

It is, without a doubt, a very good financial deal for these two companies.

And this allows them, in passing, to absorb part of their delivery delays.

But this is one more difficulty to manage in EU countries where there is also sometimes a lack of syringes suitable for the extraction of this sixth dose.

Not only does the delay have an impact on planned immunization schedules, but it decreases the credibility of the immunization process

Joint letter from six European health ministers, sent at the end of last week to the Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides.

While the EU has secured 600 million Pfizer / BioNTech doses, member states want to avoid further delays at all costs.

Many have also taken up the pen in recent days.

"

It is the season for letters,

" admits sheepishly, an EU official.

In a joint letter sent at the end of last week to the Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, six ministers of health - Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark and Sweden - expressed their concern.

Not only does the delay have an impact on planned immunization schedules, but it diminishes the credibility of the immunization process

,” they warn.

On Monday, the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, also split a missive to Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel.

At a meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday, many member states argued that it was important for Pfizer to deliver on time and on schedule.

Among them, Latvia, Lithuania, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and even Romania.

Read also:

Covid-19: "sharp drop" in Pfizer deliveries planned in France, the executive will "adjust the pace of vaccinations"

But, in the agreement signed by the Commission, Pfizer only commits to a volume per quarter and not per week… What the boss of the pharmaceutical group also recalled in hollow when he promised last week that "

the deliveries which were planned for the first quarter would indeed take place in the first quarter".

While these delays are detrimental, pointing to the responsibility of Pfizer undoubtedly allows the leaders of some member states to mask possible failures in their national vaccination campaign.

What a wise observer readily admits: "

There are also domestic political considerations in all of this

."

Source: lefigaro

All tech articles on 2021-01-21

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