The European Union pushes on anti-Covid vaccines. After months of controversy over the repeated cuts in deliveries established by the manufacturing companies and the management of contracts by Brussels, the EU Commission announces that it has purchased additional 4 million doses of the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine which will be added "to those already envisaged in the delivery program for the first quarter of 2021".
PFIZER-BIONTECH
“For Italy – specifies Palazzo Chigi – this is equivalent to an additional quota of 532 thousand doses which will be delivered in the last two weeks of March and which will help deal with the emergence of new infections and variants ”.
By the end of March, our country will therefore have over half a million more doses of the anti-Covid vaccine available, which will contribute to the new vaccination strategy which envisages an acceleration of vaccinations all over the country.
ASTRAZENECA
On Monday 8 March they arrived at the Pratica di Mare Airport 684.000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which have already been distributed to the various Regions with Defense resources as part of "Operation Eos".
Meanwhile, the dispute with the EU continues. On Monday, the president of the EU Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen explained that the export stop for AstraZeneca “is not a one-off, it will depend on the company. He must respect the agreements. If they honor the contract and restore trust, the doors will open." “We expect you – she continued – that AstraZeneca will increase its efforts to distribute more doses in Europe and catch up. This will be the benchmark” for establishing “whether there will also be exports from other countries” after last week's blockade by Italy of 250 vaccines leaving for Australia. The European leader particularly underlined Mario Draghi's "support for Italy's decisions". “From what we seeo AstraZeneca is distributing below 10% than agreed for the first quarter in the Union. Therefore – he remarked – full support and alignment with Italy”.
JOHNSON & JOHNSON
In the meantime, the wait is rising for the go-ahead from the EMA, the European Medicines Agency, for the single-dose vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson which should arrive tomorrow, March 11th. The pharmaceutical company, through a press release, has denied the rumors about possible delays in deliveries. Everything will proceed as planned: 200 million doses will be delivered to the European Union starting from the second quarter and by the end of 2021. 55 million doses will arrive in the three months April-May-June, 7,3 million of which destined for Italy.
THE DOSES COMING SOON
They will arrive by April 3rd in Italy 6,5 million doses of vaccine. The long-awaited acceleration should finally begin next month. Deliveries are expected to increase, up to 36,8 million doses between Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna.
On Monday, the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that “From April in the EU we will have 100 million doses a month, 300 million in all by the end of June”.
