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Europe turns on the vaccine turbo - and really.
At least that is the message from EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton, who has headed the EU Commission's vaccination task force for two months.
Its job is to stimulate vaccination production on the continent and to ensure that bottle necks are quickly removed during production or do not arise in the first place.
In the past few weeks he has visited many production facilities, dispatched inspectors to look for undeclared vaccination camps and put pressure on companies to keep their commitments to the EU.
For example, the task force is currently endeavoring to avert possible bottlenecks in lipid nanoparticles for the production of mRna vaccinations.
There was also a threat of bottlenecks in the case of single-use pharmaceutical bags and filters that are required in production.
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Negotiations on this would also be conducted with the USA.
In fact, production in Europe seems to be picking up speed, not least because of the new plant in Marburg for the vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer.
Production on the continent seems to be developing so well that Breton dares to make a new promise: “We now have enough delivery commitments until mid-July that we can ensure that 70 percent of adult EU citizens can be vaccinated by mid-July and with all delivery commitments that we have 100 percent of adults by the end of summer, “Breton told a small circle of journalists on Thursday.
The EU vaccination campaign would have accelerated dramatically.
Ursula von der Leyen originally promised that 70 percent of all EU citizens should have a vaccination offer by the end of summer.
After the bumpy start of the vaccination campaign, there were initially doubts as to whether this goal was even achievable.
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In the meantime, however, the picture in Europe is apparently looking rosier.
According to Breton, 420 million vaccine doses will be delivered from the beginning of April to mid-July, including the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which only requires one vaccination.
In the second quarter alone, which ends in June, 360 million vaccine doses should be delivered.
The plan for the second quarter will thus be adhered to.
According to earlier information from the commission, 200 million doses will come from Biontech / Pfizer, 70 million from AstraZeneca, 35 million from Moderna and 55 million from Johnson and Johnson.
From the European Parliament, however, it is said that Johnson and Johnson could only have 50 million cans.
In addition, the vaccine from the German manufacturer CureVac should also be approved from June and the first deliveries could then begin - which are not yet included in the invoice.
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Even if the notoriously unreliable manufacturer AstraZeneca were to break its already severely curtailed delivery promises, the European vaccination targets would be achieved, says Breton.
“According to our calculations, we will achieve our vaccination goals even if AstraZeneca's 70 million doses fail,” says Breton.
“But of course we know that this vaccine is an asset in our vaccination strategy.” According to Breton, almost a billion doses will be delivered in the second half of the year.
This is also necessary because of the booster vaccinations, which will be necessary because of the existing and the likely future variants.
These high numbers are only possible because production capacities in Europe will skyrocket after the summer.
"In September or October we will have a production capacity of 100 million cans per month," said Breton.
In the final stage, the capacity would be two to three billion cans a year.
In this situation, ordering additional doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V is completely unnecessary, said the French politician.
The Commission, which has signed preliminary contracts with all major vaccine manufacturers on behalf of all EU countries, has so far refused to negotiate with the manufacturer of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V.
The manufacturer has now applied for approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
"We welcome any new vaccine," says Breton.
“But it will take five, six, ten months before we can even start producing the vaccine.
But now is the critical time for us. "
It takes ten to twelve months to prepare factories for vaccine production and then 70 to 90 days to produce the vaccine, said the commissioner, who has visited quite a number of production facilities in the past few weeks - most recently a manufacturer of lipids in Burgundy for m-RNA vaccines.
Peter Liese, the coordinator of the Christian Democratic EPP group in the Health Committee of the European Parliament, does not believe in a quick start of production of the Russian vaccine in Europe either.
“The production capacities in Europe are very limited and I would not trust the manufacturer to be able to produce enough Sputnik V in Europe in time,” says Liese.
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This also applies to the company R-Pharm in Illertissen, which Sputnik V is to deliver for the order of the Bavarian state government.
“Maybe they can start production at the end of June or in July, if everything goes well,” says the CDU politician.
“But experience shows that they will probably only start producing in August or September.” Nonetheless, Liese demands that the EU Commission also negotiate supply contracts with the manufacturer of Sputnik V.
"We import oil, gas and vodka from Russia, then we can also import a vaccine," says the trained doctor.
“The EU Commission has to negotiate with the manufacturer.
Let's challenge Russia.
If they can deliver quickly, all the better. "
On the other hand, Liese has just as little understanding as the EU Commission that Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder has pre-ordered Sputnik V past the EU and that Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn is now negotiating with the manufacturer.
“I am firmly against individual countries and regions starting negotiations with the Russian producer.
That is the role of the EU. ”Austria also wants to order Sputnik;
in Hungary the vaccine is already inoculated.
The other customers want to wait for the approval by the EMA.