The AstraZeneca laboratory “regretted” Saturday not being able to meet its delivery schedule. Worried, five European Union countries warn of a possible disparity between populations and call for discussions with the group “as soon as possible”.
A new drop in the delivery of AstraZeneca vaccines that worries Europeans. The anti-Covid vaccination was indeed Saturday March 13 at the center of concerns in the European Union which called for discussions with the laboratory “as soon as possible”.
AstraZeneca’s image has already been tarnished by the suspensions of its vaccine decided this week by Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Bulgaria after serious cases of blood clots, while Thailand has delayed its vaccination campaign.
Export restriction
Norway further raised concerns on Saturday about cases of skin hemorrhages in relatively young people who received a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, although no link has yet been established with the vaccine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that there was “no reason not to use” this vaccine.
“AstraZeneca is sorry to announce a drop in deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines to the European Union,” said the Swedish-British group whose vaccine was authorized in the EU at the end of January.
Citing “export restrictions” for vaccines manufactured outside the EU, he announced that he could deliver only 100 million doses during the six months ended in June, including only 70 million of the 180 million initially planned for the second quarter.
In January, the group had already reduced its objectives for the first quarter incriminating a problem of “yield” in its Belgian factory.
On Saturday, the European Commission said it was continuing discussions with Member States with AstraZeneca, and insisted that the company “do everything possible to honor its commitments”.
Consequence of this drop in deliveries: in Germany, the Land of Thuringia – which has the highest incidence rate in the country, at 152.1 on Saturday – must temporarily suspend a pilot project of vaccination with this product by general practitioners which was to start before the end of March, especially for the elderly living at home.
“Huge disparities”
Meanwhile, five countries – Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Latvia – on Saturday called for talks on “huge disparities” in vaccine distribution “as soon as possible” between EU leaders, including a summit is scheduled for March 25-26.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had accused certain Member States the day before, without naming them, of having negotiated “contracts” with laboratories behind the scenes.
The EU lags behind the US, Israel and the UK on vaccinations. The Commission, which negotiated the vaccine contracts on behalf of its EU 27, expects a ramp-up in the second quarter and targets 70% of Europeans vaccinated by the end of the summer.
In the United States, the country most affected by the coronavirus pandemic with 532,590 deaths, almost 20% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine and more than 100 million doses have already been administered, i.e. around 30% of the total number. of injections performed around the world.
Third wave
On Friday, WHO approved Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine which can now be distributed through the UN Covax system to underprivileged countries. In addition to being injected in a single dose, it also has the advantage of being able to be stored in a conventional refrigerator. The UN agency had already authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as well as two versions of that of Astrazeneca-Oxford.
In several countries, health authorities are worried about the arrival of a third wave, as in Italy, a country which will reconfigure a large part of its population from Monday until April 6.
The regions classified in the red zone (more than 250 new cases per week), will have to close schools, bars and restaurants and travel will be limited. And the whole peninsula will be classified in “red” for the Easter weekend, April 3, 4 and 5.
Italy, which this week passed the 100,000 mark of Covid-19 deaths, has recorded a sharp increase in contaminations and deaths, largely linked to the British variant.
If the country launched its vaccination plan vigorously at the end of December, deliveries have since slowed considerably and only 1.8 million people – out of a population of 60 million – had received two doses of the vaccine on Friday.
“Alarming” progress
In France, the most populous region, Ile-de-France, worries the authorities: the situation of hospitals is particularly tense and the first evacuations of patients to other regions began on Saturday.
“We are on a razor’s edge,” said Prime Minister Jean Castex. France, which passed the barrier of 90,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Friday, hopes to exceed the target of 10 million vaccinated in mid-April.
On the African continent, vaccination is lagging behind. Ethiopia, the second most populous state in Africa, only started its vaccination campaign on Saturday with the administration of AstraZeneca doses produced in India, against the backdrop of an “alarming” increase in cases in the country. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (number four by its population in Africa) has postponed the launch of vaccinations, initially scheduled for March 15.
In Jordan, seven Covid-19 patients, in intensive care in a hospital near Amman, died on Saturday following an oxygen supply failure, causing great emotion in the country.
The pandemic has killed at least 2.64 million people worldwide since the onset of the disease at the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP.
With AFP
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