Covid-19 vaccine plan, new government-Regions meeting

2021-02-01T09:52:52.550Z

New meeting today between the government and the Regions to reshape the vaccine plan following production delays and after the approval by AIFA of the AstraZeneca drug, more suitable for the under 55s. Commissioner Arcuri, who raised the alarm: "We are working with a scheme that provides for 11 million and 200 thousand vaccines, compared to the 28.6 million initially envisaged: over 60% less". Meanwhile, 66 thousand doses of the Moderna drug have arrived at the military airport of Pratica di Mare, from today to distribution in the Regions. EU Commission President von der Leyen announced that 9 million additional doses will arrive from AstraZeneca, 'compared to 31 announced in the first quarter'. "We work with pharmaceutical companies to ensure vaccines are delivered to Europeans. Pfizer-BioNTech will deliver 75 million more doses in the second quarter of the year and up to a total of 600 million doses in 2021." So the president of the European commission on twitter. In a statement, BioNTech chief financial officer Sierk Poetting said the two companies intend to increase deliveries starting the week of February 15 to provide the amount of doses it has committed to in the first quarter. In addition, they will provide the EU with up to 75 million additional doses in the second quarter under existing contracts. The launch of vaccines in the EU has slowed down due to production problems recorded at BioNTech-Pfizer and the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca.