Controversy between France and Germany over Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine
Controversy between France and Germany over Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine
Germany's health minister is said to have pushed for the EU to buy more doses of the vaccine, but France has opposed it. The European Commission and the French government have denied
German magazine Der Spiegel has revealed that germany's health minister has pushed for the EU to buy more doses of Pfizer/BioNTech's Covid vaccine, but France has opposed it.
Clement Beaune, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, denied this.
The European Commission has ordered 300 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The first vaccines against Covid-19 are to be administered in the EU on Sunday. The European Medicines Agency and then the European Commission on Tuesday approved the launch of the vaccine from the US-German alliance Pfizer/BioNTech.
The authorization comes amid controversy between France and Germany over vaccine orders. German Health Minister Jens Spahn is reportedly pushing for Europe to acquire more doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, according to German magazine Der Spiegel. According to the publication, the minister was held back by several countries, including France, on the grounds that the EU had already entered into a contract to obtain 300 million doses of the vaccine developed by the French laboratory Sanofi and the British GSK.
Fake News
"That's not true," Clément Beaune, the French secretary of state for European affairs, said on Monday. "Never has France, Germany, or any country asked to lower the doses of contracts that would have been signed with a particular laboratory."
The European Commission also denied this to the German magazine. The company signed six vaccine supply contracts for Covid-19 this year. It has ordered 200 million doses from Pfizer/BioNTech for all member states, plus an additional 100 million doses. This total of 300 million doses will not be enough to cover the entire EU population, especially since this vaccine requires two injections.
The Commission has also chosen to diversify the vaccine offer, by ordering doses from several laboratories, at the risk of falling behind other countries, such as the United States, which quickly placed an order for 100 million doses from Pfizer and BioNTech.
What also makes Germany cringe, reports Spiegel,is the timing of the signing of these contracts. The one with Pfizer/BioNTech was concluded on November 11, while the one with Sanofi-GSK (the 300 million doses mentioned above) dates back to September 18. Pfizer and BioNTech had released partial results on November 9, announcing 90% efficacy of their vaccine, but did not publish the data in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
Sanofi-GSK vaccine delayed
The contract with Moderna, a U.S. laboratory that is very advanced in its vaccine trials, was signed on November 25. The Commission has secured the delivery of 80 million doses, with the possibility of ordering an additional 80 million doses.
The vaccine developed by Sanofi-GSK will not be available until the fourth quarter of 2021, the two laboratories said on December 11. It was originally scheduled to be made available "at the beginning of the second half of next year." A postponement that does not call into question, for the time being, the contract signed with the European Commission.
Source:- Flash News and News Agencies