With Pfizer: EU closes world’s largest vaccine company

PUURS, Belgium – The European Commission (EC) has said it hopes to seal world’s largest vaccine supply contract in days, purchasing up to 1.8 billion doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for the next few years, while debating the inequity of access to vaccines for the world’s poorest.

Vaccines from the US pharmaceutical company and its German partner BioNTech would be provided between 2021 and 2023said EC President Ursula von der Leyen during a visit to Pfizer’s vaccine factory in Puurs, Belgium.

The supply will be sufficient for inoculate the 450 million inhabitants of the EU for two years and this comes at a time when the bloc is looking to consolidate supply in the long term. It’s him third contract of the block with the two companies, which have already closed two for the supply of 600 million doses this year. Brussels intends to vaccinate at least 70% of adults of the EU before July.

The measure comes at a time when the Commission intends to sever ties with AstraZeneca after the drug maker lowered its sourcing targets due to production issues. This Friday, he decided to take legal action against the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company.

An EU official said the supply contract had been agreed in principle, but both sides needed a few days to refine final conditions. “We will conclude it in the next few days. It will ensure the doses needed to administer booster vaccines to increase immunity, ”von der Leyen said during a briefing at the Puurs plant.

Pfizer has struggled to increase production in recent months at its United States Yes Belgium to meet growing demand. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Puurs should have the capacity to produce over 100 million doses in May.

Separately, the EU’s medicines regulator said it had approved an increase in the batch size of vaccines made in Puurs, which von der Leyen said will mean. a 20% increase in production. A company official said he exported 300 million vaccines in more than 80 countries around the world.

Nonetheless, the deal is likely to spark debate over the growing gap with low-income countries, as richest nations in the world grab supplies and rush into vaccination campaigns. The United States administered vaccines to more than 40% of its population, with at least one dose, while India, where infections have broken records, only 8% received a first dose and many African countries only 1%.

The CEO of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said vaccines are still beyond the reach of low-income countries, in the comments made on the occasion of the first anniversary of the COVAX dose administration service.

The EU supply contract is also the last step for Brussels to increase its commitment to the technology of Messenger RNA (mRNA) and leave out those who use the technology of viral vectors deployed by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

Astra and J&J vaccines have been associated with a very rare but potentially fatal side effect.

Reuters Agency

Reuters