Illustration of vaccination with Pfizer serum. – ‘Cesar Gomez / SOPA Images
Due to a drop in deliveries of the Janssen vaccine to Europe, France expects around 28 million doses of vaccine against the coronavirus received during the month of June, less than the 32 million expected according to the latest forecasts, the Ministry of the Economy said on Tuesday.
“This revision does not call into question our vaccination objectives for June 15 (30 million first injections), or the vaccination campaign”, relativized Bercy. The latest forecasts were for a total since the first deliveries in December of 76.7 million doses received at the end of June for the four vaccines authorized in Europe.
Problems of non-compliance in an American factory
This total will therefore be reduced by around 4 million. “In total for June, we expect 28 million doses, so there is a difference from the forecast last week, which was 32 million doses. This is explained by the updating of forecasts (for the vaccine) Janssen ”, after the blocking in April of batches of active substances from the United States to Europe, added the Ministry of the Economy.
This blockage followed problems of non-compliance in an American plant of the firm Emergent BioSolutions, located in Baltimore (Maryland). “We reaffirm our global commitment to deliver 200 million doses of our vaccine to the EU, plus Norway and Iceland,” a spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson replied on Tuesday.