Covid19 – EU to get 50 million Pfizer doses early as Denmark scraps AstraZeneca
The EU said Wednesday it would get 50 million Pfizer vaccine doses earlier than expected, as rival drugmaker AstraZeneca faced a fresh setback after Denmark banned its use over blood clot links. The news comes after Johnson & Johnson said it would delay its European rollout, a major hit for the continent’s beleaguered immunisation campaign as several countries battle rising caseloads.
The doses will now be delivered in the second quarter of this year, and will start arriving as soon as this month. EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said “there are still many factors that can disrupt the planned delivery schedules of vaccines”, referring to the J&J delay.
More than 820 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have now been administered globally, but with demand far outstripping supply, countries are scrambling to secure much-needed jabs.
The J&J and AstraZeneca setbacks are a dampener on hopes that mass immunisations can allow a swift exit from a pandemic that has now killed close to three million people and ravaged the global economy.
