Italy plans to take legal action against American drugmaker Pfizer for delays in delivering coronavirus vaccines, said Domenico Arcuri, Italy’s special pandemic commissioner, in a statement late on Tuesday.
On Friday, Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, said they would deliver fewer doses than expected to European Union countries this week because they were changing the production process to increase future supplies. They said deliveries would return to their original schedule next week.
Italian officials discussed the situation with company officials on Tuesday.
“The outcome of today’s dialogue with Pfizer did not have the effect we had hoped for,” wrote Arcuri, announcing that Italy would bring charges “civil and criminal, whenever possible” in the coming days.
Arcuri said Pfizer would not make up for next week’s shortfall in delivery, which would be less than previously expected. Italian authorities fear that the lack of doses could dangerously slow the country’s vaccination program, which has reached more than 1.2 million people so far, beginning with health professionals and nursing home residents.
Some regional governors announced that they would stop new vaccinations because of the shortage and focus on distributing the second dose of the vaccine to people who had already received the first. But they warned that if delays continue, even the distribution of booster doses will be at risk.
“Health care for Italian citizens is not a negotiable issue,” said Arcuri in the statement. “The vaccination campaign cannot be slowed down, mainly to give the second doses to the many Italians who have already received the first.”
Pfizer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.