Health Regulator Approves Johnson & Johnson’s Vaccine – Europe

Despite the recent approval of J&J’s shot, Pinkerton assesses it is unlikely that the EU will counter its vaccine supply crunch in the medium term. J&J has notified EU authorities it was under “high stress” to deliver a supply pledge for Q2 of 2021, likely increasing the chance of delivery lags to the bloc, which may extend the initial shipments until the end of April. J&J’s supply hurdles are likely to worsen the EU’s shot shortages, which has already suffered lags from Moderna’s vaccine since February, and AstraZeneca, which has only delivered 10% of its pledged doses. As of the time of writing, the EU has received a total of 50 million vaccine doses. Yet, the bloc plans to receive nearly 750 million doses by the end of Q2 in 2021: 300 million from Pfizer, 180 million from AstraZeneca, 35 million from Moderna, and 55 million from J&J.

Furthermore, Pinkerton assesses that the manufacturers’ supply hurdles are yet one of several vaccination challenges that the EU is likely to face in the immediate to long term; the pausing of AstraZeneca’s vaccine use has now become a significant threat within the bloc. On March 10, the Danish Health Ministry issued a two-week suspension on the use of AstraZeneca’s shot, following reports of clotting allegedly caused by the vaccine. Investigations to determine a possible link between the clotting cases and the vaccine are currently underway. Iceland and Norway have adopted similar measures without clarifying their suspension durations.