Covid-19: vaccinations in the EU, between new orders and delivery delays
The EU, under pressure for the slow pace of vaccination campaigns, has signed six contracts with manufacturers of anti-Covid vaccines.
Three are licensed, but they have suffered significant production delays.
AP - Marijan Murat
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
The vaccination campaign against Covid-19 officially began on December 27 in the 27 countries of the European Union.
But the EU under pressure for the slowness of vaccination campaigns, has signed six contracts with manufacturers of anti-Covid vaccines.
Three are licensed, but they have suffered significant production delays.
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The significant delays in the delivery of the anti-Covid vaccine from the Swedish-British laboratory
AstraZeneca
are "
a real problem
" for the EU, because it was to be the spearhead of the mass vaccination of the Twenty-Seven, the Commission said on Monday European.
AstraZeneca, whose product "
was going to be the mass vaccine for the first quarter
" 2021, will only deliver a portion of the 120 million doses promised for the period and "
it must be realized that this absence is creating a real problem,
" said the Director General of Health within the European executive, Sandra Gallina.
The tone has risen in recent weeks between European leaders and AstraZeneca, which has accumulated delays in deliveries of its anti-Covid vaccine.
AstraZeneca had explained that it could deliver only "
a quarter
" of the 120 million doses initially promised to the EU in the first quarter, accusing a "
drop in yields
" in a European factory.
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen finally announced Sunday that the laboratory would finally deliver 40 million doses in total in the first quarter.
EU orders 75 million more doses from Pfizer-BioNTech
In the EU, only two other vaccines, those of the American-German duo Pfizer-BioNTech and the American Moderna, are authorized, with a ramp-up expected in the second quarter.
German laboratory BioNTech on Monday confirmed delivery to the EU of up to 75 million additional doses in the second quarter of the vaccine developed with Pfizer.
“
There will be a lot more doses in the second trimester as a new contract will go into effect.
We will not only have BioNTech and Moderna, but we will have BioNTech with a new contract, it is double the quantities
”, recalled Director General of Health within the European executive.
EU turns to other vaccines
The EU has also signed contracts with the Franco-British duo Sanofi-GSK (up to 300 million doses), the German CureVac (up to 405 million doses) and
the American Johnson & Johnson
(up to 400 million doses).
The European executive has also concluded exploratory talks with the American Novavax (100 million doses) and the Franco-Austrian biotech Valneva (up to 60 million doses).
According to a German ministerial document consulted by AFP, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be approved in the EU at the end of February, followed in May by those of CureVac and Novavax.
According to the Commission, some 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be delivered by the end of September.
What about Russian and Chinese vaccines?
In terms of the vaccine developed by Russia, Hungary was the first European country to allow
Sputnik V
.
On January 21, the Hungarian medicines regulator gave the green light to Sputnik V, developed by Russia.
The Russian vaccine has a six-month temporary authorization, although it has not yet been recognized by the European Medicines Agency.
Hungary has also just authorized
the vaccine developed by China,
which is also not approved by the European regulator.
In total, the EU expects the delivery of 100 million doses in the 1st quarter (including 33 million in February and 55 million in March), then at least 300 million in the 2nd quarter: a potential of some 200 million d 'Europeans vaccinated by the end of June.
►
To read: Covid-19: AstraZeneca will deliver 30% more vaccines than expected to the EU
(With
AFP
)
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