Italy says delays in vaccine supplies unacceptable

[rooster59]

Italy says delays in vaccine supplies unacceptable

By Valentina Za

 

FILE PHOTO: A volunteer who assists medical workers receives a dose of the Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at the Misericordia hospital in Grosseto, Italy, January 18, 2021. REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini

 

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte lashed out at suppliers of COVID-19 vaccines on Saturday, saying delays in deliveries amounted to a serious breach of contractual obligations.

 

Italy will have to rethink its whole vaccination programme if supply problems persist, a senior health official warned on Saturday, after Rome was forced to cut its daily rollout of COVID-19 shots by more than two thirds.

 

Pfizer Inc last week said it was temporarily slowing supplies to Europe to make manufacturing changes that would boost output.

 

On Friday, a senior official told Reuters AstraZeneca Plc had also informed the European Union it would cut deliveries of its COVID-19 vaccine to the bloc by 60% because of production problems.

 

"This is unacceptable," Conte said in a Facebook post. "Our vaccination plan ... has been drawn up on the basis of contractual pledges freely undertaken by pharmaceutical companies with the European Commission."

 

Italy, which is using vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna Inc as AstraZeneca awaits clearance for use of its vaccines across the EU, says Pfizer deliveries were 29% lower than planned this week and would be down 20% next week.

 

The head of Italy's higher health council, Franco Locatelli, told a press conference they were expected to return to agreed levels from Feb. 1.

 

In the meantime, vaccinations in Italy have slowed to 20,000-25,000 a day from peaks of more than 90,000 around two weeks ago, Locatelli said.

 

Rome has threatened to sue Pfizer.

 

Conte said expected delays in the vaccine by AstraZeneca were even more worrying, adding Italy would receive 3.4 million doses instead of 8 million in the first quarter if the 60% reduction were confirmed.

 

He added the heads of AstraZeneca Italy had confirmed the reduction in production capacity at a meeting on Saturday with Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza and COVID-19 Special Commissioner Domenico Arcuri.

 

"Such delays in deliveries represent serious contractual violations, which cause enormous damage to Italy and other countries," Conte said.

 

"We'll use all available legal tools as we're already doing with Pfizer-BioNTech," he added.

 

The European Medicines Agency will rule on the AstraZeneca vaccine on Jan. 29 and Locatelli said Rome would have to reassess immunisation plans after that.

 

So far 1.31 million doses of vaccine have been injected in Italy, corresponding to around 70% of deliveries, placing Italy second in the EU after Germany. Nearly 40,300 people have completed the vaccination cycle after receiving the second dose.

 

Italy reported 13,331 new coronavirus cases on Saturday and 488 deaths.

 

(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Christina Fincher)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-24

 

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[John Drake]

Didn't Italy sign up to be part of Xi's Belt and Road and turn over their port operators to China? Let them get their vaccine from China, then.

[Deli]

I used to work for Italian companies for decades and delays in deliveries of 60 days were just normal and routine. Now they see how it is being at the other side of the door. Suck it up, buttercups.

[Bluespunk]

2 hours ago, Deli said:

I used to work for Italian companies for decades and delays in deliveries of 60 days were just normal and routine. Now they see how it is being at the other side of the door. Suck it up, buttercups.

Nothing to do with Italian delivery hold ups. 
 

15 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Pfizer Inc last week said it was temporarily slowing supplies to Europe to make manufacturing changes that would boost output.

 

On Friday, a senior official told Reuters AstraZeneca Plc had also informed the European Union it would cut deliveries of its COVID-19 vaccine to the bloc by 60% because of production problems.

 

[rupert the bear]

THE AZ vaccs not been cleared yet by EU authorities so........clear ur red tape and then comment ,the oth

er vaccs had the same slow clearance,the EU has bought up enough vaccs to jab itself twice.what of other countries?what will they do with the extra ones?knowing the eu .throw em away .please inform us of the plan?if u dont want to wait go elsewhere,china perhaps. you may get a discount on a made in china covid jab    aghh the irony,paying the poisoner for the antidote

[sammieuk1]

Boris Bolt was first out the traps and left the EU in his considerable wake not the time for pause and hesitation or any slow lane approvals ????

[sirineou]

I don't understand why, (I ams sure there must be a reason) they simply don't  sell licence to locally produce to countries that have the capacity to do so? Why such arrangement had not be made months ago?

[Deli]

12 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Nothing to do with Italian delivery hold ups. 
 

 

 

Yes, it has. Now they get the feeling how it is to wait for promised deliveries. Serves them well.

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, Deli said:

 

Yes, it has. Now they get the feeling how it is to wait for promised deliveries. Serves them well.

No it's not, as the OP makes clear.

[JonnyF]

I'm sure the EU will fix this for the Italians, same as they did with the masks. 

 

Good to know those billions of Euros they pay them every year are well spent in their hour of need.

 

Maybe they could start by approving and procuring the vaccine? Just a thought. 

 

Chop chop, Ursula.

 

 

 

 

[onebir]

Ah schadenfreude... so British! ????

[candide]

15 hours ago, sirineou said:

I don't understand why, (I ams sure there must be a reason) they simply don't  sell licence to locally produce to countries that have the capacity to do so? Why such arrangement had not be made months ago?

Maybe because It's a different type of vaccine which cannot be produced by traditional vaccine plants. Well, It's just an hypothesis.