Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine supply to the EU 30% below plans, sources say

Exclusive: Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine supply to the EU 30% below plans, sources say Pfizer has not yet delivered to the European Union about 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses that were due in December, EU officials said, leaving it about one-third short of the supplies it had expected by now from the U.S. company. Francesco Guarascio U.S.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Pfizer has not yet delivered to the European Union about 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses that were due in December, EU officials said, leaving it about one-third short of the supplies it had expected by now from the U.S. company.

The delay is another blow to the EU, which has also been hit by delays in deliveries from Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca and U.S. company Moderna, and had also faced earlier delays on the Pfizer vaccine.

It also raises questions about the rationale of an EU vaccine export control scheme which was set up in late January to ensure timely deliveries but has not yet been activated, despite the supply shortfalls.

By the middle of last week, Pfizer had delivered to the EU 23 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with German firm BioNTech, said an EU official who is directly involved in talks with the U.S. company.

That was about 10 million doses less than Pfizer had promised to supplied by mid-February, said a second official who is also involved in the talks.

Pfizer declined to comment, saying schedules of its deliveries were confidential. The executive European Commission did not respond to a request for comment on delivery shortfalls.

EU officials have said Pfizer committed to delivering 3.5 million doses a week from the start of January, for a total of 21 million shots by mid-February. ...