Not only cutting 164,970 vaccine doses. On balance even more than 29% of the supply starting today, as per Pfizer’s announcement. But also a distribution of damage between regions that risks triggering a dangerous mechanism of rivalry. The smaller ones, six in everything from Abruzzo to Umbria, lose nothing. But others are in trouble, such as Friuli Venezia Giulia where the doses will be halved, or Lombardy and Emilia Romagna, where 25,000 fewer will arrive. With the result that several regions are slowing down the rate of administration, giving priority to recalls, such as Friuli Venezia Giulia. While there is a risk of slippage for the vaccination of people over 80, with reservations starting today.
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Yesterday the American multinational formally responded to the complaints of the emergency commissioner, Domenico Arcuri, who had asked not to cut the doses and threatened legal action. But Pfizer’s email certainly does not close the case, because it remains vague. And, unlike what was written in the press release on Saturday, it does not indicate a precise date for the resumption of supplies at full capacity. The message merely states that “according to current information, supplies will be in line with forecasts”. Too generic and above all without that date of February 25, previously set as the day of the return to normal.
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In Commissioner Arcuri’s structure, Pfizer’s message was received with some perplexity. Because it is true, it is pointed out, that “there is first evidence of the change but it is not clearly stated that deliveries will resume as envisaged by the contract”. A lack that “raises concern and suggests that there are no conditions to consider the hypothesis of a dispute closed”. It all depends on what happens on February 25, whether it really goes back to standard supplies or not. And it certainly cannot be said that there is a climate of mutual trust.
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For days – Italian government sources confirm – there has been suspicion that cuts and delays the supplies are not due to the upgrading of the Belgian plant in Puurs, as the company claims. But the fact that Pfizer is diverting part of the vials destined for the European Union to non-European countries, willing to pay more. Arcuri does not deny: “I can not answer, I can give you a smile,” he replied on TV to a question on the point. However, Pfizer itself has always disproved the hypothesis. The company reiterates that everything is due to the upgrading of the plant in Belgium. And that, indeed, these interventions are necessary to increase the production of the vaccine from 1.3 billion to 2 billion doses, as announced just over a week ago. Several large companies, in Italy and abroad, have polled their governments and the European Commission to see if they can buy vaccines themselves, in order to vaccinate their employees. But this practice is prohibited by the confidential clauses of contracts signed by the European Commission. Yesterday the first commercial in support of the vaccination campaign shot by Giuseppe Tornatore was presented. The next will be about young people.
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January 18, 2021 (change January 18, 2021 | 03:26)
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