Vaccine shortage halts COVID-19 first jabs for Paris region

PARIS: A shortage of COVID-19 vaccines has forced Paris and two other regions that together account for a third of the French population to postpone giving out first doses, a source familiar with the discussion, and health officials, said on Thursday.

Europe faces a vaccine shortfall because pharmaceutical firm Pfizer has temporarily slowed supplies in order to make manufacturing changes, while AstraZeneca said it would cut supplies of its jab allocated to the EU in the first quarter due to production issues at a Belgian factory.

The public health agency for Paris and the surrounding region, an area with a population of 12.1 million people, told the region's hospitals that from Feb. 2, all first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine would be suspended, according to the source.

The agency told the hospitals that injections of the second, follow-up dose would continue, the source said. There was no indication when the first doses would resume.

The agency cited as the reason the "extremely tight vaccine supplies and the need to guarantee the second injection for people already vaccinated," the source said.

The Paris region public health agency and the health ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.

The public health agency for the Hauts-de-France region in northern France said earlier on Thursday that it was pushing back to the first week of March injection of the first doses that had been planned for early February. It too cited supply problems.

In the region around the wine-making Burgundy area, the public health agency said it was deferring appointments for first injections of COVID-19 vaccines in order to address shortages of vaccine supply.

Residents of care homes -- among the most at risk from serious illness in the epidemic - are unlikely to be affected by the French delays because most have already received the first dose.

But the delays are likely to affect people over 75 and health care workers who are in the cohort that in France is currently due to receive a first dose.

Most of the vaccines currently approved for use globally come in two doses: the first gives only limited protection from the virus, with the second needed to fully inoculate a patient.

The French health ministry said on Wednesday that as of Jan. 26 a total of 1.13 million first doses and 6,153 second doses had been administered.

The vaccine rollout in France, as in its European neighbours, lags far behind other countries. States including Israel, Serbia, the United Arab Emirates and Britain have already vaccinated a much larger share of their population.

Because EU countries decided to procure their COVID-19 vaccination doses collectively, the supply issues hitting France are affecting other countries in the bloc.

Portugal said on Thursday the first phase of its vaccination plan will be extended by around two months into April, as delivery delays mean the country will receive just half the expected doses by March.