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The Serbian government has signed an agreement with Pfizer and Bayontek on the procurement of a coronavirus vaccine, but the details of that contract are confidential, Danas was told at Pfizer.
Photo: EPA-EFE / BIONTECH SEWhen our newspaper asked us when the details of the contract will be published, such as the number of contracted vaccines, the deadlines in which they will be delivered and the price, we were told that at this time I cannot say anything more.
During the previous months, Pfizer informed the public about the contracts it has entered into with other countries, emphasizing how much the vaccine will provide for individual countries, but without stating the contract price or expected delivery times.
For example, it was said that the United States can count on 100 million doses at the beginning, Japan with 120 million, Great Britain signed a contract for 40 million doses …
At the same time, Pfizer said they could produce 50 million doses by the end of this year and another 1.3 billion by the end of 2021.
Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar and President Aleksandar Vucic spoke about the Fajzer vaccine in Serbia in the previous days.
Vučić said two weeks ago that Serbia had signed a contract with Pfizer for the supply of 350,000 doses, while on Thursday he said that the state had provided 1.8 million doses of coronavirus vaccines through the Covax system for this and all of the next. year, and that would probably be from Pfizer. vaccine.
The president also said that several vaccines will be available by the end of this year.
At the same time, Health Minister Zlatibor Lončar told RTS that Serbia would ask for additional doses of the vaccine and that he spoke with “Pfizer and asked them for additional amounts because we were among the first to sign a contract with them.”
The Pfizer-Byontek vaccine, which has so far been tested in 43,500 people in various countries, is effective in 90 percent of cases, these companies said earlier this week.
As they explained, the next step is for the vaccine to be approved for use by the EMA, the European Medicines Agency.
Responding to the question of when the Pfizer vaccine could be used in Serbia and how the registration process is going, public health consultant Dragoslav Popovic explained to Danas that “formally, if the EMA accepts the registration, all EU countries, but Serbia can accept that registration as valid. “
– This is how the control system is organized and that is undoubtedly good. It is important to say that the vaccine will be controlled, as long as the last doses are not administered to the population of Serbia and beyond. And that’s part of the system to ensure the highest possible standard when it comes to vaccine safety. This vaccine is new, but the standards are the same as for other vaccines on the program, Popović emphasizes.
In addition to the agreement it signed directly with Pfizer, Serbia can count on vaccines through the Covax program, a global initiative that aims for all countries to be vaccinated in a uniform way, so as not to repeat the situation of 2009 during the influenza pandemic when the richer grabbed. by themselves most of the vaccines available.
Data from the World Health Organization website shows that the Pfizer vaccine is not currently part of the Covax program, although, as The Guardian writes, it is not excluded that Covax is currently negotiating with Pfizer.
What is a problem, however, is the fact that rich countries have already ordered at least 500 million doses from Pfizer, so the question is how much will be left for the Kovacs program, that is, the poorest countries. .
The Kovaks program currently includes nine vaccines, including Moderna and Astrazeneka, which are in the third phase of clinical trials and are closer to production.
At the same time, the day before yesterday, a public invitation was issued to all companies that hope to have the vaccine by the end of 2021, to submit their offers for Kovaks.
According to previously announced deadlines, countries can count on the first doses of vaccines in the first quarter of 2021 through the Covax program (according to a scenario in the February-March period, according to the second April-June).
The delivery dynamic is designed to first serve three percent of a country’s total needs, which would be used for immunization of priority groups, before all health workers, and then the remaining 17 percent will go the elderly and the chronically ill.
Dragoslav Popović explains that these deadlines are set in such a way that producers have time to provide vaccines to healthcare workers for the first deliveries, for whom it is more important to be protected.
– The second reason is to give countries more time to prepare for vaccination, because vaccination will be a great challenge for all systems and the third is that we want to achieve a synchronous and simultaneous attack on the virus, vaccines that will be distributed in another route for 17 percent of the population of all countries – emphasizes Popovic.
When asked if all the countries that are in Kovaks will get the first three percent of their needs at the same time, Popovic says it is planned that way, but that logistics problems are possible, especially in Africa.
As a global initiative, Kovac aims to provide two billion doses of vaccines by the end of 2021.
Challenges
Dragoslav Popović points out that obtaining, distributing vaccines and vaccinating itself is extremely demanding work that requires good preparation. As he himself says, the seriousness of this work is also demonstrated by the fact that the United States has appointed a general as the distribution coordinator. “Countries must be seriously prepared, for customs clearance and reception, registration with the competent agencies, to prepare distribution plans, to prepare a cold chain to store vaccines, syringes and needles, because a large quantity of vaccines will be delivered in vials in various doses, then organize the training of health personnel, communication with the population and, of course, adapt all places to the circulation conditions of the coronavirus, but also organize records and reports on vaccinated. This is a extremely great challenge because all this must be done in parallel with the regular vaccination program, which must not be interrupted at any time. It is a work that is very serious and must be left in the hands of the experts, in cooperation with the health experts “, Popovic emphasizes.
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