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Britain wants to get vaccinated against the corona virus 24 hours a day, in Israel things are progressing rapidly, also in the US But many EU countries are lagging behind in immunizing their citizens. Too little vaccination, too late approval, poor preparation, too much back and forth – the complaints are diverse and the ball goes round and round. Now there is also the supposed setback in Astrazeneca. Five points:
1. Is the Astrazeneca vaccine not approved?
It would be the third vaccine for Europe in the fight against the coronavirus: the vaccine from the Swedish-British manufacturer Astrazeneca should soon be used together with the active ingredients of Pfizer Biontech and Moderna. But now there is a setback for the vaccination campaign. Because above all, the active ingredient should not be approved for the main target group.
According to several German media reports, the Astrazeneca vaccine does not get approval for patients over 65 years of age. The reason: in the elderly, the vaccine appears to be less than 10 percent effective. Astrazeneca immediately denied this message through a spokesperson on Monday night.
Much hope has been placed on the Astrazeneca vaccine because, unlike the active ingredient from Pfizer Biontech, for example, it is less demanding in terms of transport conditions and, for example, does not require much cooling.
The vaccine is expected to receive authorization from the EU drug agency EMA next Friday. Now it is more than questionable whether this will also apply to the older generation.
2. EU countries have access to 2.3 billion doses of vaccines.
The EU Commission has concluded framework agreements with six manufacturers for the supply of a total of 2.3 billion doses of vaccines, more than enough for 450 million Europeans. It has invested 2,700 million euros in the development and construction of productive capacities. Now two agents have been approved: the EU will receive up to 600 million doses of Biontech / Pfizer and another 160 million doses of Moderna.
3. Germany has ordered more than 300 million cans
According to the Biontech / Pfizer health ministry, Germany expects 64 million doses from the EU order and 30 million more through its own “safe option”. From Moderna it should be another 50.5 million. Germany has also ordered: 56.2 million cans of Astrazeneca; up to 73 million doses of Curevac; and 37.25 million cans of Johnson & Johnson.
4. Until now, Germany has only used Biontech / Pfizer
The EU health authority, ECDC, is supposed to quickly collect and publish data on vaccines supplied and used in all 27 EU countries, but according to its own information, it is not quite ready. The Robert Koch Institute regularly publishes data for Germany.
Up to and including Sunday, 1.78 million doses of vaccine had been used. The majority, 1.76 million cans, came from Biontech / Pfizer. Around 20,000 units came from Moderna. The number of people vaccinated in Germany was 1.55 million, because some people have already received their second dose.
5. Two large manufacturers supply less
Biontech / Pfizer has reported a brief production bottleneck due to the renovation of a plant in Belgium, according to EU information, limited to the previous week. Delivery volume should reach 100 percent across the EU this week and the failure should be quickly made up for.
In Germany, according to the Ministry of Health, this comes at a different rate: last week, slightly more were available, that is, 842,400 instead of 667,875 doses. This week, however, only 485,550 cans should arrive, starting February 1 and then gradually more. For the week of February 22, 906,750 cans are advertised in Germany.
Added to this is Astrazeneca’s announcement that it will also be able to deliver less to EU countries and on a much larger scale. The British-Swedish group could get approval on January 29. After that, the EU actually expected 80 million doses of vaccines by the end of March. But now it should be only 31 million according to information from the EU. Reason here: gap in supply chain in Belgium. However, it is assumed that the pre-produced vaccine could have been sold to third parties rather than the EU. The EU wants a clarification and the total amount. (SDA / nim)
