All pricks on syringes for Covid vaccines between Pentaferte and Artsana
Arcuri defends the decision to buy luer lock syringes for anti Covid vaccines, while the Pentaferte company criticizes the choice of Cts and commissioner. The role of Artsana
While waiting for the anti Covid vaccines to arrive, Italy stocks up on syringes. Syringes, those ordered by Commissioner Domenico Arcuri, which are likely to arrive in two or three months. The devices required, in fact, are luer locks: they differ in the attachment of the needle, they cost about 5-6 times more than normal tuberculin (according to the experts and the Tagadà transmission) and they need dedicated molds for the production. .
Molds that Pentaferte, one of the two Italian companies producing syringes (the other is Artsana), is expected to go into production in February. In short, vaccines would arrive but syringes would not. The story has generated many questions and controversies.
All the details.
SILERI DEFENDS ARCURI'S CHOICE
Let's start with the choice of syringes. According to Pierpaolo Sileri, Deputy Minister of Health, who spoke in Tagadà on La7 last Friday, "the request made by Arcuri is for all potential suppliers and does not mean that purchase contracts have already been made, it was made for a type of syringe that has been indicated by the Scientific Technical Committee that deals with the extraordinary vaccination plan for Covid ".
That type of syringe, added Sileri, was indicated as "the best ever to avoid wasting the doses of vaccines that will come to us in vials that are pentadoses and with each of those 5 vaccinations will be made".
WE HAVE ALL THE TIME TO FILL UP
Sileri also defends the choice of timing, or the ban in November (while France, for example, has already entrusted the production to the Italian Pentaferte since September): "Thinking of having 100 million syringes in January, when the doses of vaccines that will arrive will be 3.4 million doses for 1.7 million people, it means having time, after the request made by Arcuri, to be able to make adequate planning ”, said Sileri.
ARCURI: SYRINGES AND NEEDLES AS CTS-ISS INDICATIONS
Even the Arcuri staff justifies the choice of luer lock syringes by the will of the experts working on extraordinary vaccination: "The syringes in question have the characteristic of having the needle blocked, while at the standard the needle comes off – they say from the office Arcuri's print in a note sent to Tagadà – This can mean that the dose of a few millimeters is not precise in the aspiration operation or worse, it is dispersed with consequences on the effectiveness of the vaccine on its dispersion. These formulations are formulated by Cts-Iss, in collaboration with the manufacturing company and are very important, considering that the difference in costs is only a few cents and not six times greater ".
THE TRUE COST OF LUER LOCK (ACCORDING TO ARCURI)
From the press office of Arcuri there is also unbuttoned the costs of the required syringes. “The order of values, for the cost of syringes, is 3-4 cents for a standard syringe and 4.5-5.5 cents for the one with a blocked needle. The news spread in recent days is from manufacturing companies, some of which participate in the tender, others not, with obvious commercial interests ”, they say.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF ARTSANA?
On the basis of what was said by the Arcuri staff, the Technical Scientific Committee and the Istituto Superiore di Sanità have chosen syringes, which are slightly more expensive, also on the indications of a manufacturer. Which? Pentaferte complained about the ban. By exclusion, therefore, it will be Artsana, the other company that produces syringes in Italy.
And indeed Artsana, in fact, heard by Start Magazine said: " No, we are not snorting for the announcement ", the criticisms come only "from Pentaferte".
CRITICS FROM PENTAFERTE
Pentaferte continues to criticize the choices made by Arcuri in the procurement announcement.
“Luer lock is no more accurate than standard production luer lip, commonly known as 'tuberculin'. The precision of the injected dose is the same ”, Gianluca Romagnoli, owner of Pentaferte, told La Verità.
“If we have to talk about precision, the only one that guarantees it the most is the“ zero residue ”, but we are talking about a syringe that is not used for vaccines because the needle is fixed in the cylinder body. Therefore it is bullshit to define luer lock more precisely, more expensive and less available on the market ”, adds Romagnoli, doubtful that the indications for the purchase have come from the Ministry of Health. “I really want to see who will be able to guarantee supplies in January, February and March, in such a short time frame”.
AND EUROPE?
With this choice, Italy differentiates itself from other EU countries. Pending the arrival of a European tender, which according to Arcuri provides for the supply of luer lock syringes, “United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain are buying standard syringes”, according to the leaders of Pentaferte.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/polemica-sulle-siringhe-per-i-vaccini-anti-covid-fra-pentaferte-e-artsana/ on Mon, 07 Dec 2020 10:18:37 +0000.