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On February 23, the pharmaceutical company Novavax announced the shipment of the first vaccines against Covid-19 to the countries of the European Union. Since then, the company has delivered more than 3.7 million doses, but only 0.2% has been administered. That is, most of the vaccines are stored in refrigerators.
Only ten member countries have begun to use this antigen against the coronavirus. These are Belgium, Germany, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia. In total, they have injected 8,079 dosesaccording to figures compiled by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Although the figure could be somewhat higher, since the ECDC does not collect the doses injected in Alemania and Italy. In the case of Italy, as published Reuters16,000 doses have been administered.
The Novavax vaccine, the fifth to receive approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), was expected to win over skeptics as it relies on more conventional technology than the other four vaccines licensed so far.
However, the data indicates that the launch of Novavax’s Covid vaccine has not been very successful.
One of the reasons is also the high rate of immunization against the coronavirus in the European Union. At the moment, 72.1% of the European population has the full regimen and almost 52% have a booster dose.
Despite this, the countries of the European Union will receive 67 million doses throughout the second quarter of 2022, according to the pharmaceutical company in a statement. A figure that corresponds to the orders that the nations themselves have made.
Spain
Spain received the first shipment of vaccines against Covid-19 from Novavax on March 1. According to the Ministry of Health, nearly 800,000 doses arrived.
However, none have been administered yetaccording to the latest update on the Covid vaccination campaign published by the department headed by Carolina Darias.
It should be remembered that the use of this antigen is recommended for people who have not been able to be immunized or who have received incomplete vaccination due to allergies to any of the components of the other available vaccines or for other medical indications.
Spain will have 2.3 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine throughout 2022. We will have to wait to see if they end up in the arms of the Spaniards or donate to low-income countries.
delays
The arrival of the Novavax coronavirus vaccine has been delayed month by month. First, its approval was expected between April and May 2021. Later, it was postponed until October. Finally, was approved on December 20.
The reason for these delays is none other than Novavax’s production capacity. As María Jesús Lamas, executive director of the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS), said, manufacturing capacity is one of the aspects that the EMA also takes into account when giving the green light to a drug or vaccine.
A requirement that Novavax had not been able to achieve despite the efforts and the speed with which the technology transfer between the laboratory and the associated manufacturers was carried out.
Once authorized, the pharmaceutical company’s forecast was to start send doses to the European Union in January. But it was not fulfilled either.
As detailed by Novavax to EL ESPAÑOL-Invertia, the vaccines were held in dutch fridges waiting to finish “local tests”. It was not until February 23, when the pharmaceutical company began sending the first doses to the European Union. They reached Germany, France and Austria.
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