Coronavirus: EU vaccine woes mount as new delays emerge

A doctor in the Netherlands receives the Moderna vaccination

A second coronavirus vaccine manufacturer has warned of supply issues to the European Union, compounding frustration in the bloc.

AstraZeneca said a production problem meant the number of initial doses available would be lower than expected.

The fresh blow comes after some nations’ inoculation programmes were slowed due to a cut in deliveries of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The EU Health Commissioner expressed “deep dissatisfaction” at the news.

Officials have not confirmed publicly how big the shortfall will be, but an unnamed EU official told Reuters news agency that deliveries would be reduced to 31m — a cut of 60% — in the first quarter of this year.

The drug firm had been set to deliver about 80 million doses to the 27 nations by March, according to the official who spoke to Reuters.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed with Oxford University, has not yet been approved by the EU’s drug regulator but is expected to get the green light at the end of this month, paving the way for jabs to be given.

A spokesman for AstraZeneca said Friday that “initial volumes will be lower than originally anticipated” without giving further details.

His written statement blamed the discrepancy on “reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our European supply chain” and said the firm was continuing to ramp up production volumes.

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Cases, deaths and vaccinations by country
News of the delay comes amid criticism and frustration across the region about the speed of vaccination roll-outs.

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Israel, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, and the US are all well ahead of EU nations in terms of doses given per capita so far.

The European Commission has co-ordinated orders for all member states, with vaccines then distributed based on their population size.

Vaccines are increasingly seen by experts as the only way out of the Covid-19 crisis, with many European nations struggling to cope with a deadly surge of the virus over the winter period.

Threats of legal action
Austrian media have reported that only 600,000 of two million AstraZeneca doses promised by the end of March will arrive in the country on time, with the remaining 1.4m now being delivered in April.

A delay would be “completely unacceptable”, Austrian Health Minister Rudolf Anschober said on Friday.

As for Pfizer, the US firm said it had to cut shipments for the next few weeks while it worked to increase capacity at its Belgian processing plant. The EU has ordered 600 million doses from Pfizer.

Some regions, including Germany’s most populous state North-Rhine Westphalia and parts of Italy, said earlier this week that they were suspending giving first jabs of the two-dose vaccine because of the shortages.

Italy and Poland have threatened to take legal action in response to the reduction in vaccine supply.

Meanwhile Hungary’s government, which has complained over the time it is taking EU regulators to approve the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, has reached a deal with Russia to buy up large quantities of its Sputnik V vaccine, even though it has not received EU approval.

European Council President Charles Michel, who led a call of EU leaders this week, said Thursday that officials were considering all ideas to try and stop future vaccine delays.

“All possible means will be examined to ensure rapid supply, including early distribution to avoid delays,” he said.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Mr Michel both say they are still aiming for the target of 70% of the EU population being vaccinated by summer.

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Borders to remain open
The total number of German Covid deaths climbed above 50,000 on Friday — a day after the country warned that it could close its borders if other EU countries were less strict in controlling the virus. Berlin sounded the alarm amid rising concern about new variants.

EU leaders agreed late on Thursday to keep their internal borders open but warned non-essential travel might need to be restricted to curb the spread of the virus.

Ms von der Leyen said Thursday that more testing and “targeted measures” were needed throughout the EU in order to keep internal and external borders open.

For its part, France said it would impose tighter travel restrictions for European arrivals from Sunday, requiring a negative PCR Covid test within three days of travel.

In the Netherlands, a ban on all flights from the UK, South Africa and South American countries came into effect on Saturday to try and prevent new coronavirus variants gaining a foothold.

Looking forward to the future, officials from EU nations reliant on tourism — including Spain and Greece — have floated the possibility of using vaccination certificates to allow for cross-border travel but there has been scepticism within the bloc.

Two Covid vaccines are now being rolled out in the UK, with a third having been approved for use.

But how do the three vaccines compare and what about others on the horizon?

Why do we need a vaccine?
The vast majority of people are still vulnerable to coronavirus. It’s only the current restrictions that are preventing more people from dying.

Vaccines teach our bodies to fight the infection by stopping us from catching coronavirus, or at least making Covid less deadly.

Having a vaccine, alongside better treatments, is “the” exit strategy.

Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine
The roll-out of the Oxford vaccine began on 5 January. It was approved late in 2020 after trials showed that it stopped 70% of people developing Covid symptoms.

The data also showed a strong immune response in older people.

There is also intriguing data that suggests perfecting the dose could increase protection up to 90%
The UK has ordered 100 million doses
It is given in two doses
This may be one of the easiest vaccines to distribute, because it does not need to be stored at very cold temperatures.

It is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus from chimpanzees, that has been modified to not grow in humans.

Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine
The big breakthrough came when Pfizer-BioNTech published its first results in November.

They showed the vaccine is up to 95% effective
The UK is due to get 40 million doses
It is given in two doses, three weeks apart
The vaccine must be stored at a temperature of around -70C. It will be transported in a special box, packed in dry ice and installed with GPS trackers.

On 2 December, the UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use.

Six days later 90-year-old Margaret Keenan became the first patient to receive the vaccine at University Hospital in Coventry. Since then, more than a million people in the UK have been vaccinated.

Moderna vaccine
The Moderna vaccine is a new type called an RNA vaccine, and uses a tiny fragment of the virus’s genetic code.

This starts making part of the virus inside the body, which the immune system recognises as foreign and starts to attack.

It protects 94.5% of people, the company says
The UK has pre-ordered 17 million doses which it should start to receive in the spring
It is given in two doses, four weeks apart
30,000 have been involved in the trials, with half getting the vaccine and half dummy injections
The Moderna vaccine uses the same approach as the Pfizer vaccine but it is easier to store, because it stays stable at -20C for up to six months.

When can you get the Covid vaccine?

What other vaccines are being developed?
Other trial results are also expected in the coming weeks.

Data on the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which works like the Oxford one, suggests it is 92% efficient
Janssen’s trial is recruiting 6,000 people across the UK, in a total of 30,000 volunteers worldwide, to see if two jabs give stronger and longer-lasting immunity than one
Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and Sinopharm in China, and Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute are all in final testing
Understanding which method produces the best results will be vital. Challenge trials, where people are deliberately infected, could help.

What drugs can help treat coronavirus?
Who will get the vaccine first and when can you have it?
Who will get the vaccine first?
This depends on where Covid is spreading when the vaccine becomes available and in which groups each is most effective.

Older care home residents and staff top the UK’s preliminary priority list, followed by health workers like hospital staff, and the over-80s.

Age is, by far, Covid’s biggest risk factor.

What still needs to be done?
Huge-scale development must happen for the billions of potential doses
Researchers still need to find out how long any protection may last
It was thought that 60–70% of the global population must be immune to stop the virus spreading easily (herd immunity) — billions of people, even if the vaccine works perfectly.

However, those figures will rise considerable if the new, more transmissible, variants spread widely.

Would a vaccine protect everyone?
People respond differently to immunisation.

History suggests any vaccine could be less successful in old people because an aged immune system does not respond as well, as happens with the annual flu jab. But data so far suggests this may not be a problem with some of Covid vaccines

Multiple doses may overcome any problems, as could giving it alongside a chemical (called an adjuvant) that boosts the immune system.

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