Pfizer has not delivered ten million vaccine jabs to the EU that were due in December in latest blow to the bloc following AstraZeneca row with UK
- Pfizer has not delivered 10million vaccine doses to the EU due back in December
- So far the EU has received around 28million two-dose vaccines from Pfizer
- This is still 10 million fewer than expected, despite increased supply this week
- Comes after EU saw delays in deliveries from both AstraZeneca and Moderna
Pfizer has still not delivered 10million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the EU which were due in December, EU officials have said.
The lack of supply from Pfizer has left the European union one-third short of the supply it had expected when the organisation placed its order with the US drugmaker.
The shortfall comes as yet another blow to the EU which has also seen delays in its deliveries of the Britain-based AstraZeneca jab and the US Moderna vaccine.
This series of delays also follows the announcement of the EU’s vaccine export control scheme which was set up in late January to ensure timely deliveries – but has not yet been activated.
Data shows that the United Kingdom leads both the EU and US in terms of vaccine doses administered per 100 people, with the UK having inoculated almost five times as many people as the EU
This week, Pfizer delivered 4.8million doses of its vaccine to the EU, taking the total of the two-shot vaccine to around 28million, according to an EU official and a source familiar with the matter.
However, this figure still falls 10million short of the supply Pfizer had promised the bloc when rollout began last year.
A second EU official involved in talks with vaccine makers confirmed the shortfall but said the companies had committed to delivering those doses by the end of March.
Pfizer declined to comment, saying schedules of its deliveries were confidential. The executive European Commission did not respond to a request for comment on delivery shortfalls.
EU officials have said that Pfizer committed to delivering 3.5million doses a week from the beginning of January, but the larger supply seen this week suggests the company is increasing supplies to make up for the earlier shortfall.
This week, Pfizer delivered 4.8million doses of its vaccine to the EU, taking the total of the two-shot vaccine to around 28million, according to an EU official and a source familiar with the matter (file image of vials containing the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine)
About 5 million doses will be delivered next week and in the first week of March, one of the officials said.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was approved for use in the EU on December 21 and the following day BioNTech said the companies would ship 12.5 million doses to the EU by the end of the month.
A source familiar with the matter said that under the agreement with the EU, 12.5 million doses that BioNTech earmarked in December for the bloc were included in the delivery target for the first quarter of 2021.
It was not immediately clear how the difference in schedules came about, but it highlights the complexity of supply deals as governments around the world scramble to secure shots to curb the pandemic.
The EU has two contracts with Pfizer for the supply of 600 million vaccine doses.
The shortfall comes as yet another blow to the EU which has also seen delays in its deliveries of the Britain-based AstraZeneca jab and the US Moderna vaccine (stock image)
Despite delays in its own supplies of vaccines, the European Commission has approved all requests for export of Covid-19 vaccines.
Between January 30 and February 16 the EU gave the green light to 57 requests for vaccine export to 24 countries, including Britain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a Commission spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Before their monitoring scheme was set up, the EU had already exported millions of vaccine doses to Israel, Britain and Canada among others, according to customs data cited in a EU document seen by Reuters.
Countries with a high number of inoculations are already vaccinating people not among the most vulnerable, while many of those most in need elsewhere have not received a shot.
The World Health Organization has set the target of inoculating 20% of poor countries’ population by the end of the year.