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From our correspondent
BERLIN – The European Commission the purchase of doses of the anti-Covid vaccine produced by BioNTech and Pfizer slowed down and limited since I didn’t want to damage the French group Sanofi, with whom you have already signed a contract, but are lagging behind (compared to mRNA-based vaccines) in developing your version of the drug.
The serious accusation is made in a long report in the German weekly Mirror, according to which this would explain the delays compared to other countries (such as the United States and the United Kingdom) in the initiation of vaccinations in the states of the European Union, which up to now has motivated their more severe and rigorous approval procedures for new drugs. (Britain started vaccinating earlier too – this explains why.)
The Berlin government did a lot of pressure in recent weeks for the EMA, the European Medicines Agency, to advance the approval of BioNTech’s vaccine by a week. (Here the explanation of mRNA technology, never before used for a drug, which is the basis of this vaccine and that of the American company Moderna).
Chancellor Angela Merkel made it a “Chefsache”, a personal issue, bringing together the two creators of the vaccine, Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin, on the livestream. But according to the Hamburg weekly, at this point it is too late: “The European Union has bought few vaccines, late and from the wrong manufacturers.”
Seen from the German point of view, if nothing were to change, Germany would not have the amount of vaccines needed to control the pandemic by next fall.
It is a fact that although the European Union has ordered a total of 1.3 billion doses of the vaccine at this time only a small part of these will be delivered safely: 300 million from the BioNTech-Pfizer version and 80 million (with an option to another 80 million) from Modern American.
Of the BioNTech-Pfizer, on the basis of the European distribution mechanism, Germany will be entitled to 55.8 million doses. But because two doses per person are needed, it would take 140 million to achieve herd immunity in the Federal Republic, which has a population of more than 80 million. Second mirror, this will not be possible unless Berlin breaks European solidarity and starts buying doses of vaccines on its own.
According to Image newspaper that’s just what’s going on: the German government is seriously considering ordering another 30 million doses of the BioNTech vaccine, which along with another order from Modern American, would raise Germany’s vaccination capacity to 136 million doses, just below the threshold for herd immunity.
The charge of Mirror is that the vaccine shortage is due to the will of the Commission, under pressure from the French government, to achieve some kind of parity with Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical giant is struggling to develop another vaccine that, however, being based on recombinant proteins, takes more time. The procedure is longer and more complex and the studies are “overdue” six months (here the explanation of the different vaccination techniques involved).
“Buying more than one German company did not seem fair,” a source tells the weekly. It is a pity, however, that in this case the health of citizens is at stake.
The Commission naturally denies this and denies that it wanted to “wait” to protect Sanofi. In fact fight back, saying they have selected the most promising and advanced vaccines. Is that so?
The problem is that second mirrorEven in negotiations with the American group Moderna, the Commission would have shown the small arm, in fact ordering “only” 80 million doses with the option of another 80.
According to the CEO of Moderna, Stephane Bancel, the company could have insured up to 300 million, but the EU did not want it.
Meanwhile, Sanofi is setting the pace: last week it announced that it will not be able to get its vaccine approved. until the fourth quarter of 2021.
While also Astra Zeneca, the British-Swedish group with which the EU has a signed contract, is behind on its vaccine. Now in Berlin there is growing irritation and pressure to “do it yourself”.
“Germany – says Karl Lauterbach, scientist and health chief of the SPD, one of the two parties in the government – could buy vaccines directly from companies and I think it should do so now.
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