Pfizer temporarily cuts deliveries of Covid vaccines to Europe

LONDON – Pfizer will temporarily reduce the number of doses of its coronavirus vaccine delivered to Europe, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

The authority said in a statement on Friday that deliveries of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine would be reduced starting next week “and for a period to come.”

NIPH said it received a message from Pfizer on Friday “shortly before 10 a.m.”, according to a translation of the statement.

“We were predicted to have 43,875 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine in week 3. Now it looks like we’re getting 36,075 doses,” the statement said. A Pfizer spokesperson was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

He explained that the temporary reduction in deliveries was “linked to an improvement in production capacity”. “The temporary reduction will affect all European countries,” he added.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday that he was confident it could “dramatically” increase production of the vaccine this year with the goal of manufacturing up to 2 billion doses.

Bourla also said that Pfizer currently has more doses of its vaccine available than those used.

The European Union said last week that it was doubling its stock of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the deal would allow the EU to purchase another 300 million doses from its existing stock. The EU’s executive arm has already been criticized for not buying more vaccine.