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| In the United States, a medical practitioner is giving the vaccine. © AFP=News1 |
As Europe is experiencing a shortage of vaccines due to production disruptions such as AstraZeneca and Pfizer, the United States is also expected to run out of vaccines that will be released to residents next week. Until now, the central government has announced that it will increase the supply of vaccines, but it has not worked out and distribution is not smooth.
◇ Europe vaccine supply, only half of the expected: AstraZeneca recently announced that the amount of vaccines it will supply to the European Union will be less than expected. According to Reuters, it is expected to supply 31 million times in the first quarter, which is about 40% of the original estimate.
A vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and Bioentech also cut shipments to some European countries in half last week. Some countries, such as Norway, can plan vaccinations with the vaccinations they stockpiled, but other countries are disrupting schedules. Italy said it would take legal action against Pfizer.
AstraZeneca cited the slow production of its Belgian partners, and Pfizer cited the factory renovation of the Belgian factory as reasons for the delay in delivery.
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| Pfizer vaccine storage in France © AFP=News1 |
◇ The United States also clamored every state for insufficient vaccine: According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of corona19 confirmed cases in the United States as of the 24th exceeded 25 million, and the cumulative death toll reached 420,000. But last weekend, Reuters reported that Trump appears to have messed up the vaccine supply, leaving the former US administration to state alone without any distribution plans or sufficient funding.
New York Mayor Bill De Blasio complained on Twitter that “we are in an urgent need of supply problems. We need more capacity immediately to protect our city’s most vulnerable residents, so we can fight back.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that only 67% of New York’s healthcare workers were vaccinated, warned that everyone would suffer if the federal government could not find a way to quickly increase production.
“When hospital staff get sick, hospitals collapse. When hospitals collapse, we have to close the economy.” Governor Cuomo said that 97% of the vaccines supplied would be used up soon. He also announced that he would conduct purchase negotiations directly with Pfizer.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said the state vaccine program barely vaccinated the arms of residents with 70 percent of the vaccine supply, but the federal program to help nursing home residents in the state delivered only 10 percent of the supply.
◇’Vaccine squeezing’ appeared in the shortage situation: As the vaccine to be used immediately became scarce,’vaccine squeezing’ appeared in the United States. Pfizer vaccine is 5 doses per bottle, but the actual dose is 6 doses considering the part of the syringe or bottle. It is intended to use a special low-volume syringe without waste, squeeze the last drop and divide it into 6 portions.
In order to increase the number of people receiving the vaccine, a plan is also being discussed to increase the interval between the first and second vaccinations as much as possible. For maximum effectiveness, an interval of 3 to 4 weeks was originally recommended, but the vaccine shortage in Europe and the United States is becoming more and more serious, experts said.