Europe Anticipates 200 Million Doses of Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine in Second Quarter, Commission Says

The European Commission has announced that it expects to receive approximately 200 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech’s two-dose COVID-19 vaccine in the second quarter, giving hope that the EU may reach its inoculation goals on time despite serious setbacks to vaccine deliveries.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday that the companies have agreed to expedite 10 million doses in the second quarter originally intended for delivery later in the year. The accelerated allotment will bring more than 200 million doses by summer’s end, a boost that will provide flexibility for member states and potentially enable them to fill delivery gaps, she said. The commission president called the development “good news” at a time when Europe is struggling with its vaccination efforts.

A Pfizer spokesperson confirmed the delivery figures to FDAnews and said that the company has so far shipped 46 million doses to the EU. The pharma giant has committed to delivering 500 million doses in 2021 and said it expects to increase dose delivery threefold in the second quarter compared to the first. In total, the EU has reserved 600 million doses from Pfizer and BioNTech in two separate contracts after doubling its initial 300 million dose agreement in January (DID, Jan. 11).

The anticipated second quarter deliveries of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will help the bloc, with its estimated population of nearly 448 million, meet its vaccination goals of inoculating a minimum of 70 percent of adults by the end of summer, though progress has been slow so far and it still has a long way to go to hit that target.

The EU expects to receive 55 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) single-dose vaccine and 35 million doses of Moderna’s double-dose vaccine in the second quarter. J&J has also expressed concern about supply issues that may threaten its ability to deliver the agreed-upon doses on time to the EU.

It also now expects 100 million doses of AstraZeneca’s two-dose vaccine in the first half of the year, but the company has run into serious European production delays that have continually forced it to lower its delivery expectations for the continent. This issue has been compounded by the company recently unveiling that it faces “export restrictions” that will reduce its deliveries to the EU even more.

Additionally, more than a dozen European countries have moved to suspend use of the AZ vaccine after concerns were raised over blood clots in a small number of vaccinated individuals, further impeding vaccination efforts. The suspensions, most recently enacted in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, are likely to continue until investigations formally conclude (DID, March 16). AZ, the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency have all found that the vaccine is highly unlikely to be the culprit behind the blood clots, but an emergency meeting of the agency’s drug safety committee will be held on Thursday to make a final conclusion.

Von der Leyen has expressed hope that vaccine deliveries will significantly ramp up, saying earlier this month that she expects to see an average of approximately 100 million doses per month beginning in April and a total of 300 million vaccine doses by the end of June.

The commission president has previously acknowledged shortcomings in Europe’s strategy for authorizing and distributing vaccines, saying the EC was late in authorizing them and was too optimistic in its assessment of vaccine production capabilities. — James Miessler