German Vaccine manufacturer BioNTech has expressed concerns over a shortage in the supply of COVID-19 vaccines in the EU.
Uğur Şahin, the CEO of BioNTech, said the shortages are also caused by the fact that the Moderna and Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccines haven”t yet been approved, thus creating a void in the supply chain.
Chris Whitty, UK’s chief medical officer, has expressed similar concerns, warning that such delays could cause problems “for several months,” jeopardising Britain’s response to the ongoing health crisis.
Calls on the EU to approve the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine as soon as possible have also come from Germany’s Health Minister, Jens Spahn.
Earlier this week, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it was unlikely to authorise the jab within the next month. However, Moderna’s mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine approval could come as early as January 6.
Meanwhile, some EU member states are coming under fire for slow rollouts of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Among them is France where only 332 people were vaccinated in the first five days of the vaccine roll-out campaign.
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