BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Pfizer has yet to deliver to the European Union nearly 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be delivered in December, according to EU officials, leaving about a third of the supplies it had expected in the United States company.
The delay is again for the EU, which has also been affected by delays in deliveries from Anglo-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca and US company Moderna, and had also faced previous delays in the Pfizer vaccine. .
It also raises questions about the justification for an EU vaccine export control scheme that was set up in late January to ensure timely deliveries but has not yet been activated, despite supply shortages.
In the middle of last week, Pfizer had delivered to the EU 23 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with German firm BioNTech, said an EU official directly involved in talks with the US company.
It was about 10 million fewer doses than Pfizer had promised to deliver in mid-February, said a second official who is also involved in the talks.
Pfizer declined to comment, saying their delivery schedules were confidential. The European Executive Commission did not respond to a request for comment on delivery deficiencies.
EU officials have said Pfizer has pledged to administer 3.5 million doses a week since early January, for a total of 21 million shots in mid-February.
In mid-January, there was a temporary hiccup in supplies that EU officials say was largely resolved last month. But many doses are yet to come in December, the two EU officials said.
The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine was approved for use in the EU on 21 December. The next day, BioNTech said companies would send 12.5 million doses to the EU by the end of the month.
According to Reuters estimates, only about 2 million of these doses have been administered in December.
The deficit would amount to about 30% of the total supplies committed for the period from December to mid-February.
An EU official said the company had promised to administer the missing doses by the end of March.
The EU has two contracts with Pfizer for the supply of 600 million doses of vaccine.
TRADE FLOWS
Although the EU’s own supplies have fallen short, the European Commission has approved all COVID-19 vaccine export applications, mainly from Pfizer / BioNTech, since it established its mechanism to control flows.
Between January 30 and February 16, the EU gave the green light to 57 vaccine export applications to 24 countries, including Britain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a spokeswoman for the United States said on Wednesday. Commission.
Prior to establishing the control scheme, the bloc had already exported millions of vaccines to Israel, Britain and Canada, including mainly Pfizer, according to customs data quoted in an EU document seen by Reuters.
Israel has injected the first dose of vaccine into more than 75% of its population, according to figures from Our World in Data, based at Oxford University. The figure for the UAE is around 50% and in Great Britain it is over 20%.
On average, EU countries have only vaccinated about 5% of their populations, according to Our World in Data.
Countries with a high number of inoculations are already vaccinating people who are not the most vulnerable, while those who need it most elsewhere have not yet had any shots.
The World Health Organization has set itself the goal of inoculating 20% of the population of poor countries by the end of the year.
Report by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio, edited by Timothy Heritage