It’s unclear at this moment how this will affect the vaccine rollout in Ireland.
Pfizer is to temporarily reduce its deliveries of the Covid-19 vaccine in Europe while the company carries out upgrades on its production capacity.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health announced the news on Friday, stating that vaccine deliveries to Norway and Europe would be reduced “as of next week” while the works are carried out.
“We received this message today [Friday]. We had expected 43,875 vaccines doses from Pfizer in week 3 [next week]. Now it appears that we will get 36,075 doses,” the institute said in a statement.
“The temporary reduction will affect all European countries.
“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.”
Speaking on RTÉ News at One earlier today, the Chair of Ireland’s High-Level Task Force on Covid-19 Vaccination, Professor Brian MacCraith, said the task force is looking at a number of scenarios of how this latest news will affect Ireland’s vaccine rollout.
“We’re waiting on specific information from Pfizer themselves and what the percentage reduction [of vaccines] is,” he said.
“Early indications are that it might be just three or four weeks.”
He said the vaccine plan was intended to be adaptable and will be adjusted accordingly when they receive more information from Pfizer.
As of Thursday, 77,303 Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in Ireland since the rollout began.
1,789 patients with Covid-19 are currently being treated in Irish hospitals, with 169 people in ICU beds.
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