The Danish Medicines Agency confirms to TV 2 that Denmark is at risk of having to change the entire plan for corona vaccinations.
The EU is now threatening to restrict exports of vaccines produced within the Community.
This comes after the Swedish-British company AstraZeneca announced that in the first quarter it will deliver 60 percent fewer doses of its vaccine to the EU than previously promised.
– The EU will do everything in our power to protect citizens and their rights, says EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, according to the BBC .
In the future, all EU vaccine manufacturers will have to notify the European Commission in advance if they wish to export vaccines to countries outside the EU.
Not yet approved
In a letter to AstraZeneca, the European Commission has demanded an answer as to the reason for the delays.
– The Commission expects compliance with the obligations of the contract. It is crucial for the safety of citizens, spokesman Stefan De Keersmaecker said on Monday.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine has not yet been approved for use in the EU, but it is expected to be available before the end of January.
Denmark has invested in buying 3.9 million doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca. From this, it has been expected that 700,000 of the doses – if the vaccine is approved – can be delivered to Denmark during February.
Confirms fewer deliveries
AstraZeneca confirms to TV 2 that there will be fewer deliveries.
The company states that there is no delay in sending the vaccines, but that it cannot live up to the expected number.
– There is no planned delay in the start of the shipment of our vaccine if we get approval in Europe, writes a spokeswoman for the company in an email to TV 2.
But the initial quantities will be lower than expected due to reduced yields at a production site in our European supply chain, the explanation continues.
The company does not elaborate on what the reason for the reduced production is.
The Danish Medicines Agency tells TV 2 that “there is at least a halving of the delivery to the whole EU”. Therefore, the Danish vaccination plan may need to be adjusted.
Pfizer also delivers less
The vaccine manufacturer Pfizer / BioNTech has already announced that it is not possible to deliver the promised amount of vaccines to Denmark, among other places.
In the first quarter, there will be a decrease of 85-100,000 doses from Pfizer / BioNTech, the Statens Serum Institut announced last week.
The vaccine from AstraZeneca is intended to complement the two already approved vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech, which Germany and other EU countries have begun to use.
Unlike the two vaccines, the product from AstraZeneca has the advantage that it does not need to be stored at temperatures well below freezing. This makes it less cumbersome to store and distribute the vaccine.
The vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech have shown in experiments an efficiency of 94-95 percent for the prevention of covid-19 for all age groups. It appears from the Danish Medicines Agency’s website.
