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PARIS: A warning from AstraZeneca that initial supplies of its COVID-19 vaccines to Europe will be lower than expected has prompted renewed concern over the launch of the vaccines, with some countries planning a sharp drop in deliveries.
Friday’s announcement by the British pharmaceutical firm followed another last week from Pfizer, which said it would delay shipments of its vaccine by up to a month due to works at its key plant in Belgium.
The companies’ warnings come with growing concern about new variants of COVID-19, particularly one that emerged in Britain and is more infectious than the original strain.
Overall, Europe has recorded more than 692,000 deaths and almost 32 million infections.
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So far, the European Union has approved vaccines from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, as well as from the American company Moderna.
It has not yet approved the vaccine from AstraZeneca and its partner, the University of Oxford, but is expected to make a decision before January 29.
AstraZeneca said 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 “reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our European supply chain.”
He said that in any case it would supply the EU with “millions of doses” while increasing production in February and March.
The announcement sparked “deep dissatisfaction” from EU member states, who “insisted on a precise delivery schedule,” said European health commissioner Stella Kyriakides.
Women walk their dogs in front of a closed shop in the center of Ronda on January 22, 2021 when new measures against the coronavirus came into force in the Andalusian region of Spain AFP / JORGE GUERRERO
“VERY VERY BAD NEWS”
Austrian Health Minister Rudolf Anschober called it “very, very bad news” and said that his country would receive just over half of the 650,000 AstraZeneca doses it had anticipated in February.
Lithuania said it expected an 80 percent reduction in AstraZeneca doses in the first quarter.
However, some government officials sought to reassure their countries, tired and battered by months of the pandemic and already nervous about slow vaccination launches.
“We have new vaccines on the way. We have Pfizer, which is increasing its production capacity,” French industry minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told French radio.
“We had indicated one million people vaccinated at the end of January. Today we are at 950,000, so that goal will be exceeded.”
A senior Italian health official said Italy will have to reconsider its COVID-19 vaccination plans if supply problems persist.
The country had already had to cut its daily vaccinations by more than two-thirds due to delays in the delivery of injections from US drugmaker Pfizer, Franco Locatelli, head of Italy’s top health council, told a news conference.
Now that AstraZeneca Plc has also warned of cuts in its dose deliveries, even as they await authorization for use in the bloc, Italy may have to redraw its national rollout at the end of the month, he said.
Vaccines in Italy have dropped from 20,000 to 25,000 a day from peaks of more than 90,000 about two weeks ago, Locatelli said.
The EU had initially ordered up to 400 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
In total, the EU has won contracts for more than two billion doses of vaccines 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.
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“ASTRAZENECA DELIVERIES IN FEBRUARY”
German Health Minister Jens Spahn also sought to downplay the effect of the announcement, saying that after the expected approval of the jab within a week “there will be AstraZeneca deliveries in February.”
Although he added: “How much, we still have to clarify with AstraZeneca and the European Union in the coming days.”
Spahn acknowledged that this was less than expected. The delay showed that vaccine production was a much more complex task than some media headlines suggested, he added.
Spahn renewed his promise that the government could make a vaccination offer to all citizens who wanted to get vaccinated for the summer. “If the expected approvals come in for more vaccines, it will continue to do so,” Spahn 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 licensed, compared to the 1 million initially expected.
Norway, which is not a member of the EU but follows decisions made by the bloc’s EMA regulator, expressed “disappointment.”
The country’s FHI health authority now plans to receive just 200,000 doses of AstraZeneca in February, far less than the 1.12 million initially expected.
Meanwhile, the Pfizer delay announced last week continued to draw criticism.
Pfizer said Jan. 15 that modifications were needed at its Puurs factory to increase vaccine production capacity from mid-February.
“We believe that Pfizer is currently at fault,” Domenico Arcuri, Italy’s special commissioner for the pandemic, told La Stampa newspaper on Saturday, confirming that the country plans to take legal action against the company.
“The 20 percent reduction in Pfizer’s vaccine supplies is not an estimate, but a sad certainty,” he said, adding that the health of Italians was not “negotiable.”
French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune asked Pfizer on Friday to “honor its commitments.”
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