BRUSSELS (AP) – Frustration grows from Europe to North America with reduced shipments of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, while the United States pharmaceutical company increases production capacity at its plant in Belgium. Governments say it is costing critical time during the early stages of deployment for nursing homes and hospital staff.
Italy has threatened legal action. The leader of Canada’s most populous province said the chief executive of Pfizer should be pursued “with a rocket”. A senior European Union official coldly invoked the principle of “pacta sunt servanda”, a Latin expression that means “agreements must be kept”
The EU and many nations are under pressure for what is seen as a slow start to their vaccination campaigns compared to countries like Israel and the United Kingdom. Pfizer compounded the problem last Friday when it announced a temporary reduction in deliveries so it could expand its factory in Puurs, Belgium, which supplies all shots delivered outside the United States.
The delay, which the pharmaceutical giant said would last a few weeks, affects not only the number of people who can be vaccinated during that period, but also undermines the careful choreography that governments have mapped out to provide elderly residents and caregivers with the two necessary doses within. a strict calendar of several weeks.
“This means big complications for us,” said Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis. Similar complaints can be heard in several other EU countries, from Denmark to Belgium.
“In fact,” added European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, “we were all surprised by the announcement of a delay at Pfizer-BioNTech.”
The EU now expects Pfizer to deliver across the 27-country bloc 92% of what was expected this week and next. The missing 8% must be recovered during the week of February 15
Von der Leyen said the immediate challenge would be to ensure enough doses to ensure that people who had already taken the first injection of the Pfizer vaccine would receive the second injection within the recommended range.
“It is extremely important that we obtain the doses that are fixed in the contract,” the EU executive committee negotiated on behalf of the member countries, she said. Overall, the EU is scheduled to obtain up to 600 million doses of Pfizer.
Several US states are also reporting difficulties in obtaining sufficient vaccines. The full explanation for the apparent incompatibility between supply and demand was unclear, but last week the United States Department of Health and Human Services suggested that states had unrealistic expectations about the amount of vaccine on the way.
In Europe, harsh criticisms of Pfizer are in stark contrast to the accolades the company received last month for being exceptionally quick in producing a COVID-19 vaccine that is considered safe and effective. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first vaccine authorized for use in the United Kingdom, the EU and the United States.
Pfizer told The Associated Press on Wednesday that any small step backwards now would result in a big leap forward at the end of the year. The company expected to produce 1.3 billion doses this year.
“We explored innovative ways to increase the number of doses that we can provide this year and now we believe that we can potentially deliver around 2 billion doses by the end of 2021,” the company said in a statement.
But even if that point is understood, many officials in Europe said they were disappointed by what they considered a lack of smooth communication.
“The problem lies mainly in Pfizer’s short-term announcement,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn. “This is a worrying problem.”
“I understand why (the factories) need to be converted in the short term to increase capacity in the medium and long term,” he said. “But it is very unsatisfactory that this was … communicated to us basically overnight.”
The urgency and expectation to put vaccines into practice in the 27 EU countries, where 400,000 people with the virus died, is also matched in Canada, a country of 37 million that has a death pandemic of more than 18,000.
Gen. Dany Fortin, who is leading Canada’s logistical implementation and distribution of vaccines, said that Pfizer has fully postponed deliveries next week and that there will be a significant decline in vaccine supply over the next three weeks.
Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford said the deficit is more than an irritating logistical inconvenience.
“I’m just angry at the situation, which other countries are getting to grips with,” said Ford. He said that if he were Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he would call Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla every day and attack “with a rocket”.
“He wouldn’t know what hit him.” Ford added. “I wouldn’t stop until we got these vaccines.”
The European Union is likely to pursue Pfizer with a different weapon, but with the same fervor. The 27 leaders have a video meeting scheduled for Thursday, where the distribution of vaccines will be a key issue.
____
Rob Gillies in Toronto, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Sam Petrequin in Brussels, Karel Janicek in Prague and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed.
___
Follow all AP pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak