Pfizer and BioNTech will temporarily halt shipments of their coronavirus vaccine to Europe, several European governments confirmed Friday.
Germany said the delivery schedule will be affected over the next three to four weeks as the US company makes changes to its manufacturing facility in Puurs, Belgium.
“In the short term, the European Commission and through it the EU Member States were informed that Pfizer [and BioNTech] due to modifications to the factory in Puurs, the delivery volume already promised for the next three to four weeks could not be fully achieved, ”the ministry said.
The German authorities said they “regretted” the unexpected news about the deliveries of the vaccine, which had been co-developed with German company BioNTech. Berlin urged the European Commission to “seek clarity and certainty” for upcoming deliveries.
EU countries angry
Six EU countries called the situation “unacceptable” in a letter to the European Commission following the relocation of Pfizer and BioNTech.
“Not only does it affect planned vaccination schedules, it also diminishes the credibility of the vaccination process,” said health ministers of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
They also urged the European Commission to “demand a public explanation”.
Lithuania previously reported that it would receive only half of the agreed-upon recordings from this week to mid-February.
“The manufacturer told us that the cuts are happening across the EU,” Vytautas Beniusis, spokesman for the Lithuanian Ministry of Health, told Reuters on Friday. Belgium said its supply would also be halved until mid-February.
US still on track
Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, later commented on the news, citing Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla as saying he would do everything possible to reduce delays. The Pfizer chief would work “personally” to get the deliveries on track as quickly as possible, “said von der Leyen.
“He assured me that all of the guaranteed doses from the first quarter will be delivered in the first quarter,” she said of Bourla.
Pfizer initially said deliveries were on schedule. However, they later admitted that deliveries would be affected in late January to early February as the company ramps up production
In a statement on Friday, Pfizer and BioNTech claimed that the “fluctuations” caused by the improvements at the Puurs plant “would significantly increase the doses available to patients in late February and March.”
The companies also said the US market would not be affected. Canadian officials, however, reported that their country would be affected by the downsizing, calling the changes “unfortunate.”
More problems for EU leaders
The EU approved the BioNTech-Pfizer product in late December, and Moderna’s vaccine also got the green light earlier this month. The Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be approved for use in the EU by the end of the month.
The latest cuts are likely to put more pressure on governments across the continent as they grapple with massive vaccinations. In Germany and other EU countries, authorities have been accused of dragging or screwing up vaccination campaigns.
Pfizer is aiming for 2 billion doses per year
Norway, which is not a member of the EU, was the first to announce the setback. The US Institute of Public Health (FHI) said the US pharmaceutical giant wants to increase its manufacturing capacity to 2 billion vaccine doses per year from 1.3 billion currently. They also said it was unclear how long it would take for Pfizer to return to maximum production capacity.
“We received this message today a little before 10:00 am (9:00 am GMT). We expected 43,875 vaccine doses from Pfizer at week 3. [next week]. It now appears that we will receive 36,075 doses, ”the agency said.
To make up for the reduced deliveries, Norway will use some of the vaccine doses it reserved as a precautionary measure when it received its first allocations.
Norway is closely linked to the EU in many areas because it is located within the bloc’s internal market. As in Lithuania and Germany, the purchase of the Norwegian COVID vaccines is under negotiation by EU officials.
jf, dj / ng (Reuters, AFP)