Pharmaceutical Pfizer can deliver far fewer corona vaccines this year than it previously planned. That number will be halved from 100 million doses to 50 million. The decrease was caused by problems in obtaining enough raw materials, reports the business newspaper The Wall Street Journal Thursday.
The vaccine that Pfizer developed together with German biotechnologist BioNTech received emergency approval in the United Kingdom this week. Applications for vaccine authorization are also underway in the United States and the European Union.
Pfizer and BioNTech still plan to deliver more than a billion doses of the vaccine to various countries next year.
On Tuesday, Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Health) announced that the vaccination will start on January 4 “if everything goes well”. An important condition is that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approves the first vaccine candidates. In addition to the vaccine from Pfizer, this also concerns that of the pharmaceutical company Moderna. On December 29, Pfizer will hear whether it can go on the market, the vaccine from Moderna will be evaluated no later than January 12.
“It can go very quickly”, De Jonge said on Tuesday. The government’s vaccination strategy includes the intention to vaccinate vulnerable groups, the elderly and care personnel first. That may change if the review shows that the vaccine is less effective in these groups.
– .
