By John Miller
ZURICH (Reuters) – Moderna has warned Switzerland that delivery of COVID-19 vaccines will be delayed, the Swiss health ministry said on Thursday, leading to a February shortfall that the country expects the US company to make in March. compensate.
The delays follow European issues with vaccine maker AstraZeneca, as well as Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, as demand for COVID-19 shots is high, but supplies remain tight and production is limited.
Switzerland, which has so far received a total of 531,600 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech, said it still expects the delivery of vaccines to meet their contractual requirements in the first quarter.
The company had hoped to receive 1 million doses in February, but with the delay in Moderna it could miss the target.
The Swiss Federal Ministry of Health gave no reason for the delays and referred questions to Moderna.
Moderna did not return messages for comment.
The delay in the delivery of Moderna was first reported by the Swiss newspaper Blick, which said that a planned shipment of 300,000 doses on 1 February was likely to fall short.
Some of the 26 cantons in Switzerland, such as European countries, have received fewer doses of Pfizer / BioNTech than they planned, which led them to change their vaccination schedules.
“The next shipments from Pfizer and Moderna will arrive in the first week of February,” a Swiss Federal Ministry of Health spokesman told Reuters.
“The cantons will be notified soon so they can plan their vaccinations.”
Switzerland, with 8.6 million people, hopes to vaccinate anyone who wants a COVID-19 survey by the summer.
Swiss contract drug maker Lonza, which manufactures ingredients for Moderna’s mRNA vaccine, said on Wednesday it could take several months before new Swiss plants dedicated to making the shots will be at a cruising speed.
Moderna’s Europe-bound vaccine has to make a tortuous journey from Lonza in Switzerland to filling and finishing facilities in Spain before being transported to a Belgian logistics center, from where it is distributed to individual countries.
(Edited by John Miller; Edited by Jason Neely and Hugh Lawson)
Originally published