Covid-19 Vaccine Shortage Causes EU Crisis

The Covid-19 vaccine shortage has caused problems in Greece and the rest of the EU, with the European Commission going into new negotiations with the pharmaceutical companies to help alleviate the shortfall by any means necessary.

This comes after U.S. Pfizer pharmaceutical company informed that it can not supply EU members with all the agreed doses of the vaccine this month.

“We are going as fast as the doses we receive allow us to go,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told lawmakers on Thursday, explaining the slow pace of vaccinations.

“We can’t use all the vaccines we have at our disposal because we don’t know if companies can keep up with the deliveries they have committed to,” adding that they are kept for the second dose for those already vaccinated.

“The European Commission is now negotiating harder, more decisively, more rigorously with the large vaccine companies,” Mitsotakis told his cabinet later.

“These companies need to understand that to the extent that European money has been used in the research for these vaccines, they need to honor the contracts they have signed with the EU,” he added.

All of Europe faces shortage problem

AstraZeneca, the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company and the main UK supplier, promised earlier this month to supply 80 million doses to the EU in the first quarter of 2021.

However, it recently cut the number of promised doses to 31 million in the first quarter, generating a a serious problem in the vaccination program in each country.

According to the BBC, AstraZeneca claim that it has a “best effort” agreement with the EU, rather than a 100 percent commitment, that the desired amount of vaccines would be delivered by the end of March.

The same report says that even though the EU claims it has invested more than 300 million euros for the vaccine development and production in mass quantities, it has yet to pay a substantial lump of the promised amount.

At the same time, AstraZeneca claims that such massive production entails problems of quality control and unexpected occurrences.

Specifically, faulty batches have significantly delayed the production process, while a suspect package in the Wales AstraZeneca facility and a fire at the Serum Institute in India interrupted production for a significant period of time.

At the same time, Pfizer announced a temporary decrease in output in order to expand its Belgian factory. That particular plant is the core supplier of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines for Canada, the EU and the UK.

Vaccine distribution in Europe

The Covid-19 vaccine distribution among EU member states so far is below the targets set when the vaccine was approved.

Greece is in 16th place among the EU in administration of the vaccine, 27 with 2.1 doses per 100 people administered so far. The tiny island nation of Malta is at the top, with 5.1 doses per 100 people, while Bulgaria is at the bottom with only 0.4.

The shortage has unfortunately generated infighting within the EU — with countries accusing the European Commission — or each other — over the amount of doses distributed.

The EU managed to negotiate vaccine contracts as a bloc, in order to secure that all members would receive the number of vaccines proportionately.

Nevertheless, that did not stop suspicion from some member states of the motives of others, such as the powerful Germany, France and the Netherlands, all homes to big vaccine producers.

Council of Europe proposal

The Council of Europe on Wednesday proposed a lifting of patent restrictions for the manufacture of Covid-19 vaccines.

The clause of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s resolution says:

“The Assembly thus urges member states and the European Union to overcome the barriers and restrictions arising from patents and intellectual property rights, in order to ensure the widespread production and distribution of vaccines in all countries and to all citizens.”

However, it is very difficult for the European Commission to lift patent restrictions because the patent owners have to agree.

If the patent owners do not agree, the EU can proceed with a compulsory license, which would impose the license release only for a specific purpose and period of time.

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