Coronavirus vaccine delays: Italy threatens legal action

Italy has threatened to take legal action against pharma giant Pfizer over delays in deliveries of the coronavirus vaccine.

“Protecting the health of Italian citizens is not negotiable,” the Special Commissioner for the pandemic, Domenico Arcuri said.

He said; ”a meeting with ministers and regional leaders considered how to protect Italians in all civil and criminal venues where possible.

“It was unanimously decided that these actions will be taken starting in the next few days.”

Arcuri stated that 29 percent of promised doses were not delivered this week.

“The vaccination campaign cannot be slowed down, even less so for the administration of the second doses for the many Italians who have already been given the first,  he stressed.

Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine, which was developed at record-breaking speed, was approved for use in the European Union in late December and has been quickly rolled out.

But Pfizer said last Friday it would delay shipments of vaccinations over the next three to four weeks due to works at its key processing plan in Belgium.

In a joint statement with German vaccine partner BioNTech, the US drugmaker said ”it had a plan to limit delays of deliveries to one week.”

The delays have sparked concern across Europe, which has suffered badly from the pandemic with Italy among the worst.

Italy has so far recorded more than 83,000 deaths from coronavirus and vaccinated more than 1.2 million people.

Mercy Chukwudiebere