how many doses will Italia- Corriere.it

A thriller that recalls the times of the Cold War. There was a moment yesterday morning when we took a step away from the diplomatic incident. If not more. The Italian government was thinking of formally protesting with Germany over the option to buy 30 million doses of the Covid vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech. A decision that ran the risk of destroying the principle of solidarity between European countries, painstakingly constructed with centralized purchases by Brussels, to then be distributed among the member states. A line that always preached in favor of the cameras, but then sacrificed itself to the first puff of national interest.

In the end, the accident did not happen. But the protests from Italy, along with those from many other European countries, have reached the European Commission. And perhaps ours have been more heated than others.

If the vaccine race really became a free race for each and every one of them, it would be a disaster for Italy. It is true that the government would be willing to follow the same path that Germany has taken, with separate agreements that bring additional doses to the 202 million already optional via Brussels. But it is also true that the additional dowry from Germany can count on the fact that a German branch of Pfizer – BioNTech. While Italy, at least for now, does not have national companies that produce the vaccine.

But early in the afternoon the twist comes. In fact, the patch. Speak the president of the european commission Ursula von der LeyenAs you would expect from Germany: we have decided to take another 100 million additional doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is already in use. Then we will have 300 million doses of this vaccine, which has been rated as safe and effective. Other vaccines will follow.

Not only. Because a few hours later a commission spokesperson says that to our knowledge no one has obtained additional doses outside of the EU deal.

What happened after? Feel-good version, Germany would have moved on, burning the commission ad because those 30 million, actually 27, are part of the new European agreement. Or, version with cameras off, the commission intervened to prevent the flight from Germany from ruining everything. In reality, the German share of the additional 100 million announced by Von der Leyen would be less: about 20 million compared to the 30 who blew up the case. But on each patch the seam marks remain visible. Only espionage and counterintelligence are missing. And not necessarily that there hasn’t been.

Germany or not, for Italy the need remains to speed up supplies. Between tonight and tomorrow, after the last Pfizer-BioNTech schedule change, another 470,000 doses should reach 203 active sites by now. In the four weeks of January the average should remain at 470 thousand doses. The knot of the other vaccines remains. For AstraZeneca, the news is not positive as Ema, the European regulatory body, has confirmed that green light won’t come in january. We have opted for 40.38 million doses.

On January 6, however, the green light should arrive for Moderna. We have chosen 10.7 million doses and, just to partially compensate for the AstraZeneca delay, we ask to double them. Instead, there is two good news about the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the only one that can be used at this time. Meanwhile I 13.5 million additional doses, the Italian slice of the 100 million announced yesterday by Von der Leyen. Not only. The fact that in each vial there are not 5 but 6 doses means we can have5,313,940 additional doses. the 20% more than expected. All six doses, however, can only be drawn with the famous precision syringes. luer lock recommended by Pfizer itself. The same ones you chose buy commissioner Domenico Arcuri, disputed at the time since they are more expensive than normal, chosen by other countries, which only allow five doses to be extracted. For the most expensive syringes we spend 1.7 million more. But the additional doses allow us save 63 million. All in all, it’s worth it.