EU Repeats Pfizer and BioNTech to Deliver 75 Million Extra Vaccines in Q2

Pfizer and German partner BioNTech will deliver 75 million extra doses of their COVID-19 vaccine in the second quarter of the year. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday, repeating information she gave earlier this month.

“BioNTech/Pfizer will deliver 75 million of additional doses in the second quarter of the year – and up to 600 millions in total in 2021,” von der Leyen wrote on Twitter after a furore last week over an overall shortfall of doses for the bloc.

The additional Pfizer-BioNTech doses are part of a deal the EU announced on Jan. 8.

BioNTech and Pfizer this month raised their supply goal for this year to 2 billion doses, up from a previous aim of 1.3 billion.

500 Million Vaccine Doses

The firm has said 500 million doses would be available to the EU by the end of this year, and an option for another 100 million could be taken up.

Each recipient of the Pfizer vaccine needs two doses to develop maximum protection.

The EU, whose member states are far behind Israel, Britain, and the United States in rolling out vaccines, is scrambling to get supplies of vaccines for its 450 million people, just as the West’s biggest drugmakers slow deliveries to the bloc due to production problems.

(The story corrects to reflect increased Pfizer and BioNTech supply goal)

(Reporting by Kate Abnett, editing by Marine Strauss and Philip Blenkinsop, editing by Louise Heavens)

Latest on Worldwide Spread of the Coronavirus

A public health warning message is posted amidst the tightening of regulations to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sydney, Australia, December 30, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

About 2 million Australians begun their first full day of a strict coronavirus lockdown on Monday following the discovery of one case in the community in Perth, capital of Western Australia state, but no new cases have since been found.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.

EUROPE

* The number of COVID-19 patients in French hospitals hit a near nine-week high on Sunday, as the country shut its borders to all but essential travel to and from nearly all countries outside the European Union.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Japan is expected to extend a state of emergency to fight the spread of COVID-19 this week for Tokyo and other areas as hospitals remain under pressure despite a decline in cases from their peaks.

* South Korea will extend its social distancing curbs by two weeks until the end of the Lunar New Year holidays as new COVID-19 infection clusters emerge in the country.

* China reported the lowest daily increase in new COVID-19 cases in more than three weeks on Monday, reversing a sharp uptick a day earlier.

* Western Australia state reported no new local COVID-19 cases on Monday, a day after it recorded its first case in 10 months that prompted authorities to enforce a five-day lockdown in the capital city of Perth.

* Pakistan received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccine doses, 500,000 from China’s Sinopharm, on Monday.

AMERICAS

* Chicago Public Schools on Sunday delayed the resumption of in-person classes for thousands of elementary and middle school students by at least a day as the district and teachers failed to reach an agreement on a safety plan.

* Two Colombian citizens in Leticia, capital of the country’s Amazonas province, have been infected with the Brazilian variant of coronavirus.

* Canada’s northern territories have achieved much higher COVID-19 vaccination rates than its more populous provinces despite geographic challenges.

* Mexico City’s international airport will set up facilities to perform COVID-19 tests to help passengers who need to show they are free of the virus to enter other countries.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Israel extended a national lockdown as coronavirus variants offset its vaccination drive and officials predicted a delay in a turnaround from the health and economic crisis.

* Ghana plans to procure 17.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of June with the first doses arriving in March.

* Saudi Arabia’s health minister said complacency around coronavirus restrictions had led to a notable increase in daily cases in the kingdom.

* Zimbabwe has set aside $100 million to acquire COVID-19 vaccines but the government is still waiting for its scientists to recommend which type to buy, a state-owned newspaper reported.

* At least 5.6 million COVID-19 doses of two international COVID-19 vaccines are expected to arrive in the Philippines in the first quarter.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* A WHO-led team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic was due on Monday to visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Hubei province.

* Johnson & Johnson said its single-dose vaccine was 66% effective in preventing COVID-19 in a large global trial against multiple variants.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Ten moderate Republican U.S. senators urged President Joe Biden on Sunday to significantly downsize his sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package to win bipartisan support.

* China’s factory activity grew at the slowest pace in five months in January, hit by a wave of domestic coronavirus infections.

(Compiled by Amy Caren Daniel; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta)

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