Tensions are rising between European authorities and Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE after officials said the companies unexpectedly cut their deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines and jeopardized their vaccination schedules.
The Italian government has asked the country’s attorney general to investigate whether he can take legal action after Pfizer reduced the delivery of his vaccine by 29% this week as it rebuilt its plant in Belgium, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.
Separately, the German state of Hamburg said Pfizer had given the city fewer scales of vaccination than expected this week.
In Europe, Pfizer and BioNTech initially shipped vials of five vaccine doses, but due to a precautionary practice known as overfilling, the vials contained enough extra fluid for a sixth dose. After the European Union’s Medicines Agency ruled on 8 January that six doses could be obtained from a vial, the companies cut the number of vials delivered, claiming that their contract was for a certain amount of doses. bottles not. The companies said they were on schedule to deliver the amount of doses they promised.
A Hamburg government spokesman said the state had struggled to withdraw the sixth dose as special syringes were needed and that authorities could not buy in sufficient quantities. This has left their mobile vaccination teams vaccinating care homes unable to use the full amount of vaccine, she said.