Covid: Faced with Pfizer's delays, France will have to adjust the pace of vaccination

While Pfizer has announced a slowdown in deliveries of vaccine doses to Europe, the consequences for the vaccination campaign in France will be considerable.

The country, which has so far only vaccinated nearly 400,000 people, will have to adjust the pace of its vaccination according to that of deliveries.

This was one of the fears put forward even before the start of vaccination: will production be up to the challenge?

Saturday, the brake of the Pfizer laboratories, which announce a slowdown in deliveries in Europe, revives the question.

This could have considerable consequences on the pace of vaccination in France.

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Delay in schedule

This slowdown only affects Europe, not the United States, due to temporary works, including the Puurs plant in Belgium.

Today, it is the only one to supply this vaccine to all of Europe.

These modifications in the plant aim, in the long term, to increase the rate of production.

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But for a few weeks, between the end of January and the beginning of February, the pace of delivery of anti-Covid vaccines will slow down.

Pfizer assures that it will deliver all the doses planned for the European Union at the end of the first quarter, as planned, but no longer at the same rate.

Result: the 520,000 weekly doses expected by France will not arrive on schedule.

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Adjust the pace of vaccination

The French government ensures that this industrial setback does not call into question the overall deployment of the vaccine campaign.

One and a half million doses of Pfizer vaccines have already been received and only nearly 400,000 French people have been vaccinated.

Stocks will allow injections to continue, but the pace will have to be adjusted according to that of deliveries.

A rhythm that we do not yet know.

France can also rely on stocks of Moderna vaccines - the second serum to have obtained marketing authorization from the European Medicines Agency - but they are and will remain weaker anyway.

To date, only 52,000 doses have been received.