Vaccine Shortfall to Hit Europe, Canada as Pfizer Plant Is Upgraded

The European Union, Canada and some other countries will acquire much less doses subsequent 7 days of the Covid-19 vaccine built by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE owing to an upgrade at Pfizer’s European factory, the companies explained Friday, including to concerns about the sluggish pace of the world wide vaccine rollout.

The hold off will not influence the U.S., which is supplied by a Pfizer factory in Michigan, the corporation explained, whilst all other nations are served by the pharma giant’s factory in Puurs, Belgium, which is currently being upgraded.

Governments in Europe, which are struggling with stubbornly high Covid-19 case numbers and a glacial vaccine rollout, reacted with dismay. In an open letter to the companies, the overall health ministers of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia explained the incident was unacceptable and risked undermining the believability of the vaccine rollout, which is already dealing with general public distrust.

The German authorities explained in a statement that it deplored what it named the limited detect and unanticipated news, noting that Pfizer was failing to fulfill a contractual obligation.

“The corporation has built a binding commitment to a shipping plan right until mid-February,” the statement explained.