Italy has blamed Pfizer for delaying vaccinations against the Coronavirus, which could almost reach a dead end next week amid growing anger across Europe over slow vaccine deliveries.
“We have received 29% lower doses this week, and there will be another 20% drop next week,” from Pfizer and its company Biontech, Bloomberg News quoted Domenico Arcuri, the country’s official in charge of viral emergencies, as saying at a press conference on Thursday.
Since Saturday, the pace of vaccinations has slowed to 28,000 per day from about 80,000, with vaccination operations completely halted in some areas such as Rome and the surrounding Lazio region.
Italy, which aims to vaccinate the entire population by this fall, is already delaying the next phase in its campaign, which includes dosing for those over the age of 80. So far, Italy has vaccinated 1.3 million people, or 2.1% of the population.
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