Pfizer batch 10 to speed jabs in Kuwait

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KUWAIT CITY, March 27, (Agencies): The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health announced the arrival of the 10th batch of Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine early next week. The Assistant Undersecretary for Medicines and Medical Supplies at the Ministry, Dr. Abdullah Al-Bader, told KUNA that the ministry contracted with Pfizer International directly without the presence of a local agent. The ministry constantly, continuously and carefully monitors the safety of vaccines after their usage.

Moreover, it follows up on the information and data on the safety, efficacy and quality of vaccines locally and internationally, he added. Al-Bader said the regular arrival of the quantities of Pfizer vaccines will contribute to a significant increase in the pace of vaccinations, in addition to the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is currently available in “reassuring quantities” and is given to the target groups according to the vaccination mechanism. Al-Badr reiterated the call on citizens and residents to register on the vaccination platform while taking all preventive measures and avoiding contact with others and ensuring the implementation of the physical distancing.

Furthermore, he urged them to visit the official accounts of the Ministry of Health to view the instructions and recommendations to contribute to containing the spread of the virus. The Ministry of Health has agreed to allow hospitals, health centers and community clinics to purchase protective vaccines against the COVID-19 from the local agent or companies producing it after being licensed and approved by the Ministry of Health to provide vaccination service.

Approved
The European Union’s medicines regulator on Friday said it has approved new manufacturing sites for coronavirus vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca, in a move that could significantly boost Europe’s supply of the shots and speed vaccination efforts across the continent. The European Medicines Agency said in a statement that it had approved sites in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland for the COVID-19 vaccines made by the companies.

The new approvals come amid the 27-nation bloc’s struggles to ramp up COVID-19 vaccination and repeated delivery delays and manufacturing problems.

The EMA said it had approved a factory in Leiden, the Netherlands, to make the active substance for AstraZeneca’s vaccine, bringing the number of such licensed sites to four. The EU regulator said it was also giving the green light to a site in Marburg, Germany, to make both the active substance and completed vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer. In addition, the EMA said it was granting “more flexible storage conditions” to the Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine – which was cleared on the basis that it needed ultra-cold freezer temperatures for storage and delivery.

European Union vaccine politics reached a fever pitch Friday with charges of British blackmail and unfair practices among EU members flying about as the bloc frantically sought to ramp up production and impose export controls to stave off another deadly surge in coronavirus infections. Underscoring the ebbing cross-Channel relations, French Foreign Minister Yves Le Drian highlighted the lopsided exports between the EU and Britain, to where the EU had approved the export of 21 million doses while none have come the other way since vaccinations began in December.

The U.K. has adopted a policy of quickly giving as many people as possible a first dose of vaccine. Le Drian said that meant the country would struggle to get enough doses to administer the required second shots and that the British government was pressuring to get more supplies, at the cost of the EU’s vaccination drive.

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