The answer is “yes, if …”. As is well known, the vaccine candidate being tested by the University of Oxford is still just that: a candidate. If the last phase of clinical trials goes as planned, yes: we will receive at least 6.9 million doses. Everything will depend on your success. While this is not guaranteed, there is no certainty that it will be administered.
What is certain, for now, is that the authorization to invest 20 million euros in vaccine procurement contracts against Covid-19 was approved this Thursday by the Government, in an electronic Council of Ministers, and that a first batch was secured. This is the purchase of 6.9 million doses, as part of a joint program coordinated by the European Union (EU). This means that, from the moment that vaccine is considered safe and effective against Covid-19, the order placed by Portugal is triggered – almost as if the Government had guaranteed its place in the queue.
Winter is coming. Government has already approved the purchase of the first batch of vaccines
But we must keep our feet on the ground: the president of Infarmed, Rui Ivo, highlighted this Friday at the DGS press conference that he vaccine procurement process “is being done with much anticipation”. In the worst scenario – that of failing to create a safe and effective vaccine – these 6,900 doses may never arrive.
Infarmed President Rui Santos Ivo participated in this Friday’s DGS conference
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Even so, the investment authorization of 20 million is “a light that begins to be seen at the end of the tunnel”, said the Secretary of State for Health, António Lacerda Sales, at the press conference, adding that “until the vaccine arrives , the only vaccine we have is prevention and anticipation”.
These 6.9 million doses are the quota allocated to Portugal by the EU, in the process of joint acquisition of a batch of 300 million doses already reserved for the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca – which is developing a vaccine together with the University of Oxford and which is, at the moment, one of the most advanced in the process of clinical trials, after having proven to be safe and to provoke an immune response.
It is agreement for the purchase of 300 million doses was approved on August 14 and it will be financed by the Emergency Support Instrument created to deal with the pandemic – and which has funds dedicated to the creation of a portfolio of potential vaccines.
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Basically, the EU coordinated a joint procurement of vaccines to be distributed to interested Member States – a European strategy agreed by the ministers of health in June this year. It is the European Commission that has been promoting centralized procurement procedures on behalf of all Member States.
Portugal was, therefore, one of the countries to benefit from this ongoing acquisition process, through which it authorized this Thursday the first batch of 6.9 million doses.
They will not arrive all at once. The first shipment is 690 thousand doses and its distribution “should occur from the end of the year”, confirmed the National Authority for Medicines and Health Products (Infarmed) to the Observer, warning that this date is “always dependent on the evaluation by the European Medicines Agency and authorization of the vaccine at European level”. The same source explained that the indication that the 690 thousand doses could arrive in December was given by the European Commission under this first vaccine purchase contract with AstraZeneca.
However, the European Commission does not seem to want to publicly commit to this date. Official source reminded the Observer that “Delivery times will depend on a number of factors”, such as “the evolution of the candidate vaccine in clinical trials”. The same source added that “although Member States may indicate the quantity and a possible more general date”, the European Commission “cannot confirm” this information at this stage.
The first shipment is 690 thousand doses and its distribution should occur from the end of the year (MLADEN ANTONOV / AFP via Getty Images)
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The truth is that, in addition to Infarmed, this date was also advanced by the Secretary of State for Health, who said at the DGS press conference this Friday that the “Distribution is expected to start from the end of the year”.
António Costa was more cautious: this Thursday, when he announced the investment of 20 million in vaccines, the Prime Minister also said that only the “optimists” believe in the arrival of the first shipment at the end of the year, but stated that the role of the “realists” is to “believe” that this can happen.
Portugal will receive the remaining doses over a period of expected period of six to eight months after the arrival of the first shipment. That is, if the 690 thousand doses arrive in December, the rest will arrive over the following months and until June to August 2021, Infarmed told the Observer, without being able to say, however, how many shipments will be sent and how many doses will be each one of them.
This decision is related to the population of each Member State, confirmed to the Observer official source of the European Commission, who decided this model.
Asked how this figure was calculated for Portugal, the same source from the European Commission explained that it is not possible to “confirm individual values at this stage”. However, an Infarmed source did the math: the 6.9 million doses correspond to “2.3% in terms of the European population”.
It should be noted, however, that this is only the first batch and that, in addition to the AstraZeneca vaccine, there are others already negotiated with the EU – which may even arrive simultaneously, if they are also ready in the meantime.
It is still not clear. The vaccine is still in the testing phase and, therefore, it is still unclear whether the doses will be unique – in this case, the first batch would reach two thirds of the Portuguese population – or if more than one dose per person will have to be administered. “We will also have to know whether we will be authorized to administer one dose or more doses,” said the president of Infarmed at Friday’s press conference.
However, a source from this institution told the Observer that the European Commission’s contract with AstraZeneca provides for two doses to be administered per person. This means that 6.9 million initial doses will reach 3.45 million Portuguese – about a third of the population.
The criteria will be defined by the DGS, which will identify the priority target populations and organize a process of “Progressive, universal and free vaccination”, in the words of António Costa, for when there is a vaccine.
The Observer asked DGS whether these criteria are already defined, but this health authority considered “Early” do it already: “In due time, the target audience will be defined”. And the Secretary of State for Health said that DGS will start “now to take a gradual path to define the vaccination strategy”.
António Costa guaranteed that the vaccine will be progressive, universal and free (THIBAULT SAVARY / AFP via Getty Images)
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Graça Freitas, on the other hand, raised the tip of the veil and stated that priority will always be given to the most vulnerable groups and for caregivers and health professionals. However, he warned: “We must read the vaccine identity card first.” And “only when we have this information available will we find priority groups.
Infarmed also warned of this point: when establishing these criteria, DGS “will also take into account information about the characteristics of each vaccine”, it reads in a written response to the Observer. This is because the AstraZeneca vaccine may have characteristics that are more suitable, for example, for the older population, but other vaccines from other pharmaceutical companies may make more sense when administered to the youngest. “We will have vaccines with different characteristics that will be aimed at different groups of the population“, Completed the president of Infarmed at this Friday’s conference.
Agreements are underway with other vaccine manufacturers similar to what was done with AstraZeneca – not least because this pharmaceutical vaccine is not the only one to be tested. There are 165 vaccines under development: 26 are in the clinical phase and only those in phase III are the target of greatest interest at European level, as explained the president of Infarmed at the conference. “It is important that there is a set of vaccines negotiated and available,” said the president of Infarmed.
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In addition to AstraZeneca, more purchase processes are underway and the European Commission has already announced three more: 300 million doses to the French laboratory Sanofi-GSK; an initial acquisition of 200 million doses and, subsequently, another 200 million to the American company Johnson & Johnson; and 225 million doses to the German CureVac.
Portugal will be one of the countries that will benefit from these agreements, just as it benefited from what was done with AstraZeneca. The president of Infarmed has already said, in fact, that “on Monday another deal will be negotiated [vacina]”. The quantities that will be purchased by Portugal are not yet known.
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