Brussels, Belgium:
The EU is turning more heavily to BioNTech/Pfizer to make up for suspended Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses and for longer-term demands to fight the mutating coronavirus, its chief Ursula von der Leyen stated Wednesday.
BioNTech/Pfizer is bringing forward delivery of 50 million doses to the second quarter, beginning this month, to assistance make up for the shortfall of the J&J jabs that have been meant to get started rolling out, she stated in a televised statement.
The European Union is also negotiating with BioNTech/Pfizer for 1.8 billion doses of a second-generation of its mRNA vaccine to combat variants, to be delivered in 2022 and 2023, she stated.
“As we can see, with the announcement by Johnson & Johnson yesterday, there are still many factors that can disrupt the planned delivery schedules of vaccines,” she stated, referring to the company’s choice to suspend European deliveries though uncommon blood clot circumstances possibly linked to its shot are investigated in the United States.
“It is therefore important to act swiftly, anticipate and adjust whenever it is possible,” she stated, announcing the second-quarter delivery of 50 million BioNTech/Pfizer doses initially scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year.
Von der Leyen stated that would bring the total quantity of BioNTech/Pfizer doses for April, May and June to 250 million — accounting for more than half of all jabs to be offered in this quarter.
“I think this will substantially help consolidate the rollout of our vaccination campaigns,” she stated, noting that there have currently been one hundred million doses offered in the bloc to date, with 27 million individuals completely vaccinated.
The European Union had a sluggish initially-quarter rollout primarily simply because of vaccine provide constraints, particularly by AstraZeneca which delivered much less than a quarter of the 120 million doses it had promised.
Virus variants
Question marks are now above the adenovirus-sort vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson in the wake of suspected blood clots.
While the European Medicines Agency has authorised AstraZeneca for all adults, several EU nations have taken the precaution of limiting its use to only older segments of the population.
Von der Leyen created clear that BioNTech/Pfizer was increasingly the go-to supplier for the bloc, with no overall health difficulties so far linked with its mRNA vaccine which has confirmed to be hugely productive against the key strains of the coronavirus present in the EU.
However there are issues about emerging virus variants that could dampen the impact of existing vaccines.
Von der Leyen stated to address that, “at a certain point in time, we might need booster jabs to reinforce and prolong immunity” with vaccines that are productive against mutations.
“We need to focus now on technologies that have proven their worth: mRNA vaccines are a clear case in point. And based on all this, we are now entering into negotiations with BioNTech/Pfizer for a third contract,” she stated.
That would foresee the delivery of 1.8 billion second-generation BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine doses more than next year and 2023.
“It will entail not only the production of vaccines, but also the essential components. All of that will be based in the European Union,” von der Leyen stated, indirectly referencing issues that had arisen about supplies of AstraZeneca from Britain or Johnson & Johnson doses that have been sent by way of the US for packaging.
The EU has created the production of vaccines on its territory — currently the key vaccine manufacturing powerhouse in the globe alongside the US — a situation of its forthcoming contracts.
“Other contracts with other companies may follow,” von der Leyen stated.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)