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HEALTH-VIRUS-NORWAY-EUROPE-PFIZER-VACCINE
Pfizer vaccine deliveries delayed in Europe: Oslo
OSLO, Jan 15, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Covid-19 vaccine deliveries to Norway and
Europe by US pharma group Pfizer will be reduced “as of next week” while the
company ramps up production capacity, Norwegian health authorities said
Friday.
“The temporary reduction will affect all European countries,” Norway’s
Public Health Agency (FHI) said in a statement.
“It is not immediately clear how long it will take for Pfizer to attain
maximum production capacity, which will rise from 1.3 to 2 billion doses
annually.”
The FHI provided no detailed numbers on deliveries to Europe as a whole,
but said Norway would next week receive 36,075 doses, down from the 43,875
previously expected, or a 17.8 percent drop.
In order to compensate for the reduction, Norway will use some of the
vaccine doses it had put aside as a precaution when it received its first
allotments.
While the Scandinavian country is not a member of the EU, it is closely
linked in numerous areas, including the procurement of Covid vaccines
negotiated by Brussels.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1857 hrs