There must be a hold up at Dover…
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the UK had priority over the AstraZeneca production though, given how much the AstraZeneca vaccine depended on UK government support.
The AstraZeneca vaccine must be the vaccine of choice for developing countries though, I would have thought - given how much cheaper it is. I would have thought that AZ prioritising those countries as against the EU when the EU can afford to purchase more doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines is ethically responsible? Just hypothesising. I’ve no idea of the reasons for the cut in provision to the EU so happy for you to fill me in.
The EU has invested in Astra Zeneca as well. Just like it did in Biontech (especially the German government). Actually that was the explanation by Astra Zeneca why South Africa has to pay double the price afaik.
That is some comfort but still a little worrying. Approvals and procurement would appear to be the road blocks assuming other vaccines can produce similar quantities over a similar period.
But when you look at raw numbers, and assume that everyone world wide needs it, twice then you’re looking at a total manufacturing capacity of over 15 billion units in less than a year (assuming that you’re aiming to get everyone done this year. It’s a rough calculation but it’s still going to take some going.
I’m not sure invested is the right word. The EU have put in a pre-order of the AZ vaccine, they haven’t underwritten the development costs (which the UK gov did).
From what I can tell the EU are only due to approve the AZ vaccine for use this week. I’ve also seen suggestions that the problem appears to be with the production plant in Belgium - presumably the one meant to supply the EU?
I wasn’t aware that South Africa were being asked to pay double the price for the AZ vaccine, do you have a link?
If Biontech intended to deliver its vaccines to the UK from a facility it had in the UK and that facility experienced production problems I would have thought that would have been understandable. Particularly if the UK hadn’t even yet approved the Pfizer/Biontech vaccine.
Do we know the reason for the claimed cut in AZ vaccine supply to the EU? Presumably not given the EU are seeking answers with a meeting later today.
Sanofi/GSK have identified the ‘problem’ and have a solution the real problem is testing so it won’t be out until late fall at the soonest (is that a word?).
What I wonder is all the rush worth it? All this delaying of the second dose and stuff i mean what is the real worth of approx. 50%efficacity (where’s @Limiescouse when you need him?).
Hmm…the Serum Institute of India seems to be acting as a middle-man and applying a tiered pricing structure. Clearly it and AZ need to clarify what’s going on there.
Even at $5.25 it’s still considerably cheaper than Moderna or Pfizer though, right? Aren’t they around $15-£20 per dose?
This article says that Moderna is priced at $38, Pfizer at $20 and AZ at under £3. Not sure how current those figures are as they seem to be based on figures given by those companies last year.
Sanofi have 2 vaccines in the pipeline.
The one of interest is with GSK using GSK’s recombination (?) protien technology (what ever that is? In effect it’s the same technology used to formulate the flu vaccine). This is the one that was good for those under 50 but less efficace for those over 50.
It’s by far the cheapest if ‘pre-ordered’ not being over 3 euros a dose from what I can decifer.
The other is an mRNA vaccine developed with TranslateBio (USA) the pre-clinical trials should start soon. No idea of price but assume similar to other mRNA vaccines 10-20 euros the dose?
There’s also CureVac (mRNA) in the pipeline, apparently looking ok so far.
And Johnson & Johnson should be coming soon as well afaik (?), just one dose needed.
Logistically a one dose vaccine is a game changer particular to cover large areas where keeping tabs on things could become a problem.
My parents have had their 1st pfizer jab and have a 3 month wait for their second (that to me is nuts).
The thing that stood out to me in that article is that the EU only preordered enough to cover 75% of the population.
That was a poor decision, one that looks like it was made by an accountant.
When you consider that 75% preorder is split between half a dozen companies/vaccines it was not enough. Consider just one preorder the Curevac/Bayer . That’s 225M doses alone. A sizeable chunk of that 75%.
Unfortunately they have not got past phase 3 testing yet. By contrast the UK had preordered 100M doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine alone. 40M doses of Pfizer/Biontech one.
The other aspect is price. It was widely reported that the price the EU negotiated was far cheaper than the UK. At the time this was put down to the EUs greater buying power. But directly or indirectly it could assign priority.
The UK might have secured first dibs at a price. Or indirectly have secured it first as if you are a drug company (in a race for distribution) you will ship to customer who you are going to pay you more.
Either way it looks like the EU dropped the ball. They will be hoping the Curevac vaccine goes into production soon.
Tbh I can sort of understand the UK delay strategy given the situation it is in, don’t think anyone would have done this unless there was this level of urgency and desperation.