Filenews 29 January 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
Inevitably, delays in the delivery of vaccines by AstraZeneca, as well as the war raging between the EU and the company, affect Cyprus which, through the initial programming of the European Union, should have received 119,204 doses before the end of 2020, which certainly did not happen (as was not generally the case due to the delay observed in the completion of clinical studies for this vaccine).
As the Health Ministry's adviser on vaccinations for the crown, Professor Christos Petrou, admitted in a statement, "this issue is expected to cause a delay, as the programme adapts to the realities and vaccines that arrive in the country". With orders that Pfizer and Moderna said would arrive in Cyprus and those reduced by AstraZeneca, he said, "about 100,000 people will be vaccinated by March. I personally expected the number of those to be vaccinated to be doubled, as we would also have the quantities promised by AstraZeneca."
It is reported that Cyprus, as planned, in addition to the quantity it would receive before the end of 2020, would receive another 158,939 instalments in the first quarter of 2021. In total, Cyprus had committed 1,192,043 doses through EU procedures.
In the same but worse situation than Cyprus are EU states.
Spain suspended all new doses of the vaccine for at least 10 days, after it became known that vaccine supplies were also running out in Catalonia. "Tomorrow, the refrigerators will be empty," said Josep Maria Archimon, a top Spanish health official. In the Czech Republic, the Health Ministry recommended that vaccinations with the first dose be stopped for two weeks. In Italy, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the country would take legal action as there are problems with both Astrazeneca and Pfizer.
