translated from Spanish: France said the European Union could do without AstraZeneca in the second half

The European Union will be sufficiently supplied in vaccines from the second half, so that since then it could do without those of AstraZeneca, according to the French Secretary of State for Industry, Agons Pannier-Runacher, who underlined his confidence in the vaccine of that laboratory. In an interview with Radio Classique, Pannier-Runacher emphasized that the EU “needs AstraZeneca until the end of the first semester,” when asked about the possibility of severing it, just as the US plans not to inject it even if it obtains authorization there. The French Secretary of State added that “from the second half the deliveries of vaccines are going to be very important in Europe and, indeed, it is not impossible that we do not need to resort to AstraZeneca”. In that regard, he recalled that the EU had a broad contract palette that would allow it to receive 300 million doses in the second quarter, after 100 million in the first quarter. He reiterated his confidence in the authorisation process to which the AstraZeneca vaccine was subjected by the European Medicines Agency (AEM), which, he said, has a reputation for being “particularly harsh” in its assessments. It recalled that the MSA had “been very clear” in indicating that the benefit of using that vaccine was “sufficiently important” if it was related to the risks of side effects. Also that there are already more than ten million people who have already been given. However, some controversy persists over whether there is any link between the vaccine and a few cases of thrombosis in people who had been given. In France, some of these cases have come to justice.On the other hand, France maintains a more than cautious attitude towards the Sputnik vaccine that the AEM has been examining for weeks with a view to its eu authorisation, as evidenced on Friday by the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune.In another interview with the BFMTV channel Beaune stated that although Paris generally does not want to deprive itself “of any useful solution”, before considering commissioning it, “scientific validation” is needed. And above all, he stressed that for the time being few doses of the Russian vaccine are taking place, so that if it were to receive MSA certification “at best it will arrive at the end of June” when the EU will no longer have the current shortage problems.

Original source in Spanish