The European Union (EU) has taken ‘bumpy’ Covid-19 vaccine production into account in its plan to ramp up deliveries in coming months, the head of its supply task force stated on Tuesday.
Thierry Breton, the bloc’s industry commissioner, told a news conference the EU’s vaccine strategy should this week be augmented with the addition of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine.
According to him, the approval would be ‘within the next, hopefully, days or hours,‘ and would bring the number of vaccines in use across the 27 member states to four, on top of ones from BioNTech/Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca.
Read Also: COVID-19: FG Releases ₦10bn For Domestic Vaccines Production
Breton reaffirmed the commission’s goal of greatly increasing deliveries in the coming three months after a disappointing vaccination rollout started in January that faltered because of a lack of doses.
‘I am confident that we will make it. But it’s difficult. It’s bumpy. And this is why we have this task force,‘ he said.
Breton said the bloc received only 14 million doses in January, 28 million in February and he expected more than 55 million doses in March.
That was well below the commission’s original projections, because of shortfalls by all three vaccine makers, particularly AstraZeneca.
But, he said, the bloc was now on target to receive 100 million doses in each of the next three months, and possible further hiccups have been “integrated” into the planning.
‘I forced companies to have many, many (contingency) actions in case something could go wrong,‘ Breton said.
He added that reported production shortfalls in the United States by Johnson & Johnson would therefore not impact the EU’s outlook.
‘Do not believe that because one company has a problem that overall it will jeopardize the whole programme. This is why it’s good to have today -or let’s say tomorrow — hopefully, four vaccines to go, and soon five,‘ he said.
The European Union has pre-purchased 2.6 billion doses of various vaccines for this year and next — more than enough for the entire bloc, whose population is 450 million.
The excess doses are to be given to poorer countries close to the EU, and in Africa.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK