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EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides on Monday expressed dissatisfaction with talks with AstraZeneca and said conversations would continue. She said the drugmaker “intends to deliver significantly fewer doses in the coming weeks than what has been agreed and announced.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stepped up pressure on pharmaceutical companies on Tuesday, saying the bloc “means business”.
“Europe has invested billions to help develop the world’s first Covid-19 vaccines, to create a truly global common good. And now companies must keep their promises. They must honor their obligations,” he said. she said at a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
EU countries that rely on vaccines to contain the health crisis and boost their economies are now forced to change their plans. Italy’s Deputy Health Minister Pierpaolo Sileri told Rai 1 TV station on Sunday that people over 80 would be vaccinated four weeks later than planned due to the delays. The country is threatening legal action against drug manufacturers.
“Speak [fall] we could vaccinate up to 45 million Italians, but I don’t believe in these companies, “Sileri said.” I want to see the vaccines. “
Unexpected delays
The European Union has ordered 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which could be approved for use as early as this week, with an option to purchase an additional 100 million.
The company said production was hampered by a manufacturing issue.
“While there is no expected delay for the start of our vaccine shipments if we receive approval in Europe, initial volumes will be lower than originally forecast due to reduced yields at a manufacturing site. within our European supply chain, ”AstraZeneca said in a statement. . “We will deliver tens of millions of doses in February and March to the European Union, as we continue to increase production volumes.”
The news rocked the bloc as it rushed to assess the impact of the delays announced by Pfizer. The U.S. company said on Jan.15 that it would deliver fewer doses than expected last week while upgrading its manufacturing facility in Puurs, Belgium.
The drugmaker said it would still be able to meet Q1 targets and that with changes to its factory in Belgium it would be able to produce 2 billion doses by the end of 2021, an increase from the 1.3 billion he had initially estimated. .
Pfizer said on Monday it would revert to its original schedule of deliveries to the European Union this week.
European governments are demanding answers, stressing that the success of their vaccination efforts depends on the private sector.
“On the one hand, we can only welcome the result of science, and on the other hand, they have a monopoly and we are totally dependent,” Belgian Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke said on Saturday. “There may be production issues, but these uncertainties and announcements make it very difficult to organize the campaign.”
Kyriakides said on Monday that the bloc would now demand “full transparency regarding the export of vaccines” from the European Union.
“In the future, all companies producing vaccines against Covid-19 in the EU will have to provide early notification whenever they want to export vaccines to third countries. Humanitarian deliveries are of course not affected by this. “she said on Twitter.
How bad is that?
Supply chain experts are far more concerned with AstraZeneca news than Pfizer, given the latter company’s pledge to ramp up production soon. AstraZeneca’s vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, is also much easier to distribute because it can be stored at higher temperatures than the Pfizer alternative.
A delay of a week or two “isn’t a big deal,” said Burak Kazaz, professor of supply chain management at Syracuse University. “[Though] I certainly understand that delay means lives. ”
The scale of the problems facing AstraZeneca, which appear to be more serious, would become clear in the coming weeks, he said.
The delays at the two companies are a sign that there are still problems in the supply chain that need to be addressed as distribution accelerates, according to Prashant Yadav, medical supply chain expert and senior researcher at the Center for Global Development.
“We will experience more of these ups and downs until we come to a stable process,” Yadav said.
Given the difficult attempts to upgrade – and the concentration of production at a few manufacturing sites – the public should expect monthly manufacturing capacity to fluctuate for now, he added.
Richard Wilding, professor of supply chain strategy at Cranfield University in England, noted that at least 50 items are needed to manage vaccination sites, from alcohol wipes and syringes to personal protective equipment. Supply chains for these items also need to function smoothly.
Basically, delays are not just a problem for Europe.
“The price will be paid by developing countries that do not yet have access to it, as their deliveries may be delayed later,” Yadav said.
– James Frater, Chris Liakos, Amanda Sealy and Stephanie Halasz contributed reporting.
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