A vial of the Pfizer vaccine, here in Austria.
(illustration) -
Ronald Zak / AP / SIPA
Deliveries to EU countries of planned quantities of Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines will experience delays in the next three to four weeks due to work at the plant where they are manufactured, the Friday said. German Ministry of Health.
“The European Commission and, through it, EU member states have been informed that Pfizer will not be able to fully meet the promised delivery quantities for the next three to four weeks due to renovations at the plant de Puurs ”, in Belgium, explains a press release from the ministry.
Pfizer confirmed Friday afternoon this slowdown which should last from "late January to early February."
The company must indeed increase its production capacities from 1.3 to 2 billion vaccines per year.
However, the laboratory is committed to delivering everything due in the first quarter, announced the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Norway too
Norway, linked to the European Union contract without being part of it, has also announced a similar delay.
The Norwegian Institute for Public Health now says it expects to receive next week only 36,075 doses against 43,875 previously expected, a decrease of 17.8% for the Scandinavian kingdom.
The country has already seen a first slowdown this Friday morning but has built up a strategic reserve upon receipt of the first doses in December, which should limit the effects of the delay in delivery.
Meanwhile, health ministers from six European Union countries have expressed "serious concern" over the delivery delays in a joint letter.
The ministers of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden denounce an "unacceptable" situation undermining the "credibility of the vaccination process".
World
Brussels says it is in favor of a European "vaccination certificate"
Health
Government announces that Sanofi is considering producing vaccines for other laboratories
Coronavirus
Covid 19
Norway
Anti-covid vaccine
World
EU