Date Published: 26/01/2021
ARCHIVED - EU unhappy about vaccine delays
ARCHIVED ARTICLE European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said that the companies concerned must honour their obligations
With the coronavirus incidence rate in Spain at its highest level so far and case numbers continuing to rise according to the latest government updates, there is increasing concern over problems in the vaccine supply chains which are leading to fewer doses than anticipated being administered both in this country and elsewhere in the EU.
Following last week’s announcement that deliveries of the Pfizer vaccine would be reduced while improvements are made to the company’s production and distribution infrastructures, this week it has emerged that Astra Zeneca is reducing deliveries of its vaccine to the EU by around 60 per cent during the first quarter of the year, from 80 million to 31 million, and the European Commission is now demanding explanations from both companies.
The agreement signed by the EU with AstraZeneca is for the purchase of 400 million doses of the vaccine, and the total contracted by the EU from all producers is 2,300 million (including 600 million from Pfizer, 405 million from Curevac, 405 million from Johnson & Johnson – if just one dose per patient is needed – 300 million from Sanofi-GDK and 160 million from Moderna).
All deliveries are then distributed among EU member states on a proportional basis, but so far Spain has received just 1,346,100 doses.
These have almost all been supplied by Pfizer, with only 35,700 having so far arrived from Moderna, and practically all are reported to have been administered to the groups considered most at risk from coronavirus infection. As a result under 3 per cent of the population of Spain have received the first dose, more than in most other EU countries but a long way short of the proportion in the UK, where around 1 in 10 people have received their first jabs.
Needless to say, the reaction to the reductions announced by Moderna and AstraZeneca has been one of disappointment and anger throughout the EU. Italy has already threatened legal action, accusing them of causing a threat to public health, although it should be remembered that in fact the AstraZeneca vaccine is yet to receive official approval from the European Medicines Agency.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said: "Europe invested billions to help develop the world's first Covid-19 vaccines. And now, the companies must deliver. They must honour their obligations."
As regards the delays in deliveries from Pfizer, the company has at least announced that while production and distribution will be affected in late January and early February, when the amounts supplied will be 20 per cent lower than had been anticipated, the result will be larger batches delivered from then onwards.
Meanwhile, the European Commission is being criticized for not revealing the full text of the contracts which have been signed with CureVac, and rather than clarifying whether legal action will be undertaken in all of these matters, sources in Brussels prefer to explain merely that efforts are being made to ensure prompt delivery.
In the long term, the contracts signed by the EU will, if they are all fulfilled, lead to approximately 230 million vaccine doses being delivered to Spain, where the population is around 47 million. That equates to almost 5 doses per person (3 more than are theoretically required), so there is a wide margin built into the equation, but in the short term the record case numbers and the extreme strain under which health services are being placed underline the need for the immunization campaign to be carried out as a matter of urgency.