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A warning from AstraZeneca that the initial supply of its Europe-related Covid-19 vaccines will be lower than expected has raised new concerns about the launch of inoculations, with some countries planning a sharp drop in deliveries.
Friday’s announcement by the British pharmaceutical company was followed another week by Pfizer, which said it would delay vaccine deliveries by up to a month due to work at its key plant in Belgium.
The companies’ warnings come with deep concern about the new Covid-19 variants, especially one that has appeared in the UK and is more infectious than the original strain.
Europe has now recorded more than 692,000 deaths from the virus and almost 32 million infections.
The EU has so far approved vaccines from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, as well as from the American company Moderna.
He has not yet approved the vaccine from AstraZeneca and his partner at Oxford University, but is expected to make a decision by January 29.
AstraZeneca stated in its statement that, if EU approval is granted, “initial volumes will be lower than anticipated”, although the start would not be delayed.
The company blamed “low yields at a production site in our European supply chain”.
He said that in any case, it would supply the EU with “millions of doses” while intensifying production in February and March.
The announcement led to “deep dissatisfaction” from EU member states, which “insisted on a precise delivery schedule,” said European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides.
“Very, very bad news”
Austrian health chief Rudolf Anschober called it “very, very bad news” and said his country would receive just over half of the 650,000 doses of AstraZeneca it had anticipated in February.
Lithuania said it expects an 80% reduction in AstraZeneca doses in the first quarter.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said that “it certainly has the potential to have an impact on the wider vaccination program … It will disrupt our plans.”
However, some government officials have tried to reassure residents of their countries, who have been tired and battered for months by the pandemic and are already in the midst of slow vaccinations.
“We have new vaccines on the road. We have Pfizer, which is expanding its production capacity,” Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the French industry minister-delegate for France Inter, told France Inter.
The EU initially ordered up to 400 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.
In total, the EU has won contracts for more than two billion doses of vaccine for a total population of 450 million.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has the advantage of being cheaper to produce than its rivals, as well as being easier to store and transport.
‘Disappointment’
German Health Minister Jens Spahn also sought to minimize the effect of the announcement, saying that after the expected approval of the jab in a week, “there will be deliveries of AstraZeneca in February”.
“How much we need to clarify with AstraZeneca and the European Union in the coming days,” he said.
Sweden’s national vaccination coordinator, Richard Bergstrom, said he expects his country to receive around 700,000 doses in the first month after the vaccine is authorized, compared to one million originally planned.
Norway, which is not a member of the EU but follows decisions taken by the bloc’s regulator, has expressed “disappointment”.
The country’s FHI health authority now plans to receive only 200,000 doses of AstraZeneca in February – much less than the 1.12 million initially expected.
Meanwhile, the Pfizer delay announced last week continues to draw criticism.
Pfizer said on January 15 that changes are needed at the Puurs plant to increase vaccine production capacity by mid-February.
“We believe Pfizer is currently guilty,” Italy’s special commissioner for the pandemic, Domenico Arcuri, told La Stampa on Saturday, confirming that the country intends to pursue legal action against the company.
“The 20% reduction in the supply of Pfizer vaccine is not an estimate, but a sad certainty,” he said, adding that the health of Italians was not “negotiable.”
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in a post on Facebook on Saturday that any delay in the supply of vaccines constitutes serious breaches of contractual agreements and causes “enormous damage” to Italy and other European countries.
French Secretary of State for European Affairs Clément Beaune on Friday called on Pfizer to “honor its commitments”.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)