All the flaws of Astrazeneca on vaccines for the European states
Here is the infernal bureaucratic maze between Astrazeneca and Ema that is irritating the EU countries, which indicate that of the 4 European plants of Astrazeneca in reality only one is working to supply the citizens of the European Union.
"AstraZeneca is sorry to announce shortages in planned shipments of Covid-19 vaccines to the European Union, despite tireless work to accelerate supplies."
The official announcement issued by the Anglo-Swedish giant is almost mocking, confirming the rumors that have already emerged on supplies that for the first quarter will stop at thirty million doses, or less than a third of its contractual obligations.
Paolo Figliuolo , extraordinary commissioner, is ready to get vaccinated with AstraZeneca too, which would have just 0.002% of cases linked to serious pathologies. Says the general in an interview with Corriere della Sera and Il Foglio : «It was badly advertised, unfortunately. From my meetings with the leaders of the EMA, I was reiterated that it is a very strong product. Theoretically, the more advanced the class, the more it works. On young people, paradoxically, it provokes strong responses because it immediately gives an important charge with antibodies; the elderly who have less are immediately better off. I will do AstraZeneca ».
And while concerns continue to arise in the Union about new downsizing also for the 180 million serums promised by AstraZeneca for the period April-June, the tension rises with the European Commission, which no longer believes in the justifications of the CEO Pascal Soriot, and now he evaluates all the measures at his disposal to nail the company to its responsibilities.
Starting, of course, with a more extensive use of the export control mechanism so far activated only by Mario Draghi's Italy, which, not surprisingly, yesterday spoke of "strong decisions" against pharmaceutical causes that do not respect the commitments.
But the story – underlines Ansa – is also tinged with Kafkaesque aspects, with the strange story of a factory in Holland which, although included among the four production plants provided for in the contract between Brussels and AstraZeneca, has not yet distributed a single vial, as reported by the Financial Times .
Four establishments had been dedicated to citizens of the European Union. But two are in Great Britain, and they won't have a single vial exported from there. The third plant, in the Netherlands, never went into production because AstraZeneca did not deliver the necessary documentation to Ema. Perhaps we talk about it at the end of the month, according to journalistic reconstructions .
In practice, only the factory located in Belgium functions. Nor can we rely on the doses produced in the United States or India, because even here governments have banned exports. At this point, the European Commission no longer believes in the justifications of supermanager Pascal Soriot and evaluates all the measures available to nail down the company, stresses La Stampa .
According to the plans, the Leiden plant, managed by the subcontractor Halix, was to be, together with the Belgian plant in Seneffe, the main source of supply of the vaccine destined for the 27, also because the other two production sites provided for by the agreement are located in the United Kingdom, which the EU accuses it of having applied a protectionist policy.
But the Netherlands site – which was supposed to produce at least 5 million doses per month – has not yet received the green light from the European Medicines Agency (required to inspect all factories), because AstraZeneca has not yet provided enough data.
The investigations of the judiciary meanwhile are continuing on the reactions to the administered Astrazeneca vaccines. Yesterday – reports La Stampa – the autopsy of the non-commissioned officer of Marina who died in Syracuse was held. As happened in Trapani, two other cases that had been considered suspicious, in Taranto and Oristano, have returned. In the meantime, all the vials of the seized batch have been taken over by the Nas. The prosecutor of Gela, in turn, seized the medical records and the documentation concerning the vaccine of a 37-year-old teacher from Gela hospitalized two days ago in very serious condition at the Sant 'Elia hospital.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/tutte-le-magagne-di-astrazeneca-sui-vaccini/ on Sun, 14 Mar 2021 10:32:25 +0000.