Problems with the distribution of Pfize vaccine …

At the start of the campaign coronavirus vaccination countries of the European Union (EU), the company Pfizer-BioNTech reported “a problem in the process of loading and shipping“What delay start-up in eight European countries, in particular, in Spain, one of the countries most affected by the virus, with 50,000 deaths.

Spain expected to receive the first shipment of the 350,000 doses, from the Pfizer plant in Puurs, Belgium, but the company reported “the delay due to a problem in the loading and shipping process. “. The vaccines will not arrive on Spanish territory until Tuesday 29, the deadline the EU has set for launching vaccination campaigns for people of age at risk, health workers and political staff.

“Due to a minor logistical problem, we have postponed a limited number of our deliveries,” said the US and German capital company. “The logistics issue has been resolved and these deliveries are now being dispatched. There are no manufacturing issues to report, ”said lab spokesperson Dervila Keane.

Spain will thus receive on Tuesday the first weekly batch of 350,000 doses of the vaccine, with a delay of only 24 hours, as announced by the Ministry of Health. The vaccination campaign symbolically began the weekend with the previous distribution of 10,000 doses. President Pedro Sánchez celebrated, through his social networks, the first doses applied to the elderly.

“It moves me to see that people are vaccinated in all regions of the EU. From Madrid to Paris, from Athens to Riga”, celebrated the head of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, after the start of the campaign in the old continent. “First, we protect the most vulnerable. Soon, we will have enough doses for everyone, ”he explained the vaccination priorities, a criterion that is generally maintained in the few countries that have been able to acquire doses.

The The coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech meets a logistical challenge for many countries since requires storage at -70 ° C (with a 10 ° C plus or minus margin). The lab has promised the development of special containers, which only need dry ice and can then be stored for 30 days.

The idea is that the doses are dispatched when each country starts immunizing so that no one has to “keep the vaccine for more than 30 days”.