after suing AstraZeneca, the EU announced it would not renew its contract

Meanwhile, Campania region president Vincenzo De Luca attacked: “There is a shortage of vaccines nationwide” as Lazio runs out of Pfizer reserves for May and Lombardy opens to midnight for vaccination over 50 years.

Therefore, on the basis of contracts signed with other Big Pharma representatives which have proven to be more reliable, Europe is preparing to stop supplying AstraZeneca at the end of the semester.

“We haven’t re-ordered in June. We’ll see what happens.”, said the European Commissioner for Internal Trade, Thierry breton. Breton has expressed no criticism of the AstraZeneca immunizer, which he defines rather as “a very interesting and very good vaccine”, in particular “because of the logistical conditions and the temperatures” in which it can be stored.

Now, Breton noted, however, “we have started working with Pfizer on second phase and second generation vaccines.”

In the first quarter of the year, AstraZenega delivered a quarter of the doses to the European Commission: 30 million doses instead of 120 million, which is less than what was foreseen in the contract.

For the second quarter, the contract called for 180 million doses and the company said it was only able to deliver 70 million doses.

The vaccine then had a difficult history with the blockage of supplies decided a few days ago by the Food and Drug Administration (EMA), which immediately returned, while some countries suspended it permanently.

Brussels has therefore decided to bet on other producers deemed safer and capable of meeting the needs of the 27 in the second half of the year. However, in Italy as well, the attractiveness of the Anglo-Swedish serum fluctuates widely.

More than 1.5 million doses remain in the refrigerators, while 77% of those delivered have been.

Pfizer, on the other hand, confirms 94% and Moderna 73%. In Matera, the “Astranight” promoted by the Basilicata region was almost a failure, dedicated to the free administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged 60 to 79 years: out of 750 available doses, 250 were injected.

Rieti’s “open day” organized on Saturday and today was better. The initiative will also be repeated next weekend and it is not excluded that it will be extended to other localities, including Rome.

In this way, the quantities accumulated in the refrigerator could be disposed of more easily. But Lazio also sounded the alarm over the exhaustion of pre-rating slots for Pfizer in May. Instead, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson are available.

“We remember that all vaccines are safe and effective,” adds the regional crisis unit. Even the President of Campania complains about the exhaustion of Pfizer vaccines. Tomorrow, De Luca announces, “the large Asl 1 Vaccine Center in the Mostra d’Oltremare and, I believe, the one in Capodichino will be closed due to the depletion of doses”.

However, “we have not recovered the 200,000 fewer doses of vaccine that we have received. This is something very serious, because it is a violation of the equal rights of citizens and weighs on the region. with the highest population density in Italy and, therefore, more at risk. We have respect for Commissioner Figliuolo, who is an honest person, but we ask for respect for the rules and the rights of our fellow citizens. To date, we are still 194,000 fewer. “

However, next week there will be new arrivals of vaccines that will be distributed to the regions. To date, inoculations have reached 23,829,080, or 87% of the doses delivered.

There are 7,336,412 people who have completed their period. Starting at midnight this Sunday in Lombardy, pre-annotations for the 50-59 range will begin. And also in Calabria there will be a green light for those over 50.