Reuters
Medical assistant Tosca Tiralosi fills a syringe with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the Hausaerzte Hegibachplatz doctors' office in Zurich, Switzerland on Thursday.
Shortfalls in COVID-19 vaccine deliveries from US drugmaker Moderna have spread across Europe, as Italy joined France and Switzerland in announcing the company’s shipments for February would miss expectations.
Moderna said it had revised short-term delivery guidance for Europe and elsewhere outside the United States based on the “ramp-up trajectory” at its drug substance supplier, which is Swiss contract drug manufacturer Lonza. The company said in normal circumstances the industrial launch of a vaccine could take three to four years to prepare.
Italy now expects Moderna to deliver 20 percent fewer vaccine doses than promised in the week starting on February 7, Italy’s special commissioner for COVID-19 said on Friday, a day after neighboring France and Switzerland announced similar shortfalls.
European countries are now grappling with broad vaccine delays, at least temporarily, as all Western vaccine makers with approved shots including Moderna, Pfizer and its German partner BioNtech, and AstraZeneca, fall behind their initial delivery targets.
AstraZeneca and the European Union are already embroiled in a dispute over deliveries, while Pfizer said it needed to slow production at a Belgian plant in order to increase it in the long term.
“Minutes ago, Moderna told us about the cut. In the week beginning February 7, only 132,000 doses will arrive, 20 percent less than agreed,” Italy’s Domenico Arcuri told a news conference, saying shortfalls from all suppliers had left Italy with 300,000 fewer shots than expected.
“Every day there is worse news than the day before. Vaccines are not soft drinks or snacks, they are the only antidote to the dark night that has lasted a year,” Arcuri said, adding decisions came unilaterally and without notice, and were “unacceptable.”
Moderna’s Europe-bound vaccine makes a long, complex journey from contract drug manufacturer Lonza in Switzerland to fill-and-finish facilities in Spain to a Belgian logistics center, before it is shipped out.
“Moderna confirms that, as it scales manufacturing, it is on track to supply the next three months of deliveries and meet its Q1 and subsequent contractual commitments,” the company said.
“Moderna remains in close contact with all governments, recognizing the importance of delivery planning for vaccination rollout.”
Lonza did not immediately comment on Friday. It has previously said its Swiss plants will take “a couple of months” to reach “cruising speed.”
France said one day before it expected 25 percent fewer doses of Moderna vaccines, just after Switzerland said Moderna would not meet its February target, jeopardizing the country’s 1-million-vaccine-dose delivery target for the month.
(Agencies)