January the 27th, 2021 - Good news has arrived from Pfizer following a recent disappointing announcement that Croatian vaccination process, as well as the vaccination processes of other EU countries, couldn't continue at the previously planned rate.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, due to the unplanned slower delivery of Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, the HQ announced a few days ago that they could not continue vaccination at the same rate in the next few weeks as planned, which attracted the general frustration and displeasure of the EU.
Owing to joint pressure from EU member states as well as from Brussels itself following the previously announced reduction in deliveries and thus non-compliance with the signed contract, Pfizer changed its story yesterday.
“Because of the urgent need to vaccinate more people, we've explored innovative ways in which we can increase the number of doses we can deliver this year and now believe we can potentially deliver approximately 2 billion doses by the end of 2021,” Pfizer said, which is very encouraging indeed for the Croatian vaccination process.
In order to achieve that goal, certain modifications of production processes are now urgently needed. As a result, the Puurs plant in Belgium will experience a temporary reduction in the number of doses delivered to the rest of the EU. According to their information, from the original 1.3 billion doses, they will now produce at least two billion this year.
"This week we will return to the original schedule of deliveries to the European Union, including Croatia, while the increased deliveries will start on February the 15th. Thus, we will fully fulfill the agreement and deliver the agreed quantities of vaccines in the first quarter of 2021, while they will be significantly higher in the second quarter,'' Pfizer told Vecernji list.
The Croatian Institute of Public Health's comments on Pfizer's announced increased vaccine supply
The Croatian Institute of Public Health explained what exactly this means for the Croatian vaccination process.
“Pfizer has so far delivered 17,550 doses per week which would be equal to 18 boxes. So, 18 boxes would be arriving on a weekly basis, from January the 25th to February the 15th, a reduction of 14 boxes in total in those three weeks is planned.
On February the 15th, Croatia should receive 19 boxes, and on February the 22nd, it will receive 20, so only three more boxes.
After the 15th and the 22nd of February, Croatia should return to its regular delivery schedule and receive an extra 3 boxes, and we will know in time what the delivery will look like for the month of March and whether there will be certain compensations,'' said the Croatian Institute of Public Health for N1.
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