By John Miller
ZURICH (Reuters) – Moderna warned Switzerland that deliveries of the COVID-19 vaccine would be delayed, the Swiss Ministry of Health said on Thursday, leading to February deficits that the country expects the American company to make up for in March.
The delays follow European supply problems with vaccine maker AstraZeneca, as well as Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, as demand for COVID-19 injections is very high, but supplies remain scarce and production limited.
Switzerland, which has received 531,600 combined vaccines so far from Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech, said it still expects vaccine deliveries in the first quarter to meet contractual requirements.
He hoped to get 1 million doses in February, although, with Moderna’s delay, he could miss that target.
The Swiss Federal Ministry of Health did not give the reason for the delays, forwarding questions to Moderna.
Moderna did not return messages requesting comments.
The delay in shipments of Moderna was first reported by the Swiss newspaper Blick, which said that a planned shipment of 300,000 doses for February 1 would probably be insufficient.
Some of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, like European countries, have already received fewer doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine than planned, prompting them to change vaccination schedules.
“The next shipments from Pfizer and Moderna arrive in the first week of February,” a Swiss Health Ministry spokeswoman told Reuters.
“The cantons will be informed shortly so that they can plan their vaccination activities.”
Switzerland, with 8.6 million inhabitants, expects to vaccinate everyone who wants a COVID-19 vaccine by summer.
Swiss pharmaceutical company Lonza, which makes ingredients for Moderna’s mRNA vaccine, said on Wednesday that it could take “a few months” before the new Swiss factories producing injections are at “cruising speed”.
Moderna’s vaccine destined for Europe must make a tortuous journey from Lonza, Switzerland, to the filling and finishing facilities in Spain, before being transported by truck to a Belgian logistics center, from where it is distributed to individual countries.
(Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Jason Neely and Hugh Lawson)
Originally published