Bulgaria has Stopped Supply from the AstraZeneca Vaccine

Bulgaria has stopped supplying vaccines from AstraZeneca, due to lack of interest in it and the risk of discarding the vaccines. In the last three months, there have been no deliveries of the AstraZeneca product in Bulgaria, according to data from the Ministry of Health. Bulgaria is ordering minimal quantities of vaccines from new manufacturers, awaiting approval at the European level, and there is already a vaccine that we have completely abandoned - that of the American company "Novavax". And these decisions, like the initial requests for vaccines, are made vaguely without sufficient reasoning.

In response to a parliamentary question from August, caretaker Minister Stoycho Katsarov announced that a total of 1,183,200 doses had been delivered under the contract with AstraZeneca as of August 10th. As of November 16, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, the delivered doses of AstraZeneca vaccine are the same - 1,183,200. The same amount of delivered doses was announced in October to Sega and the Ministry of Health. At the same time, under the contract with the company AstraZeneca, Bulgaria expects a total of 4,518,232 doses, and this is the manufacturer from which we initially ordered the largest quantities.

It is not clear whether the contract with AstraZeneca is only temporarily frozen or our country has decided to abandon it completely, as well as how much it will cost. Vaccine applications have been collected at EC level in order to conclude preliminary purchase agreements, but the supply contracts themselves are bilateral - between Member States and the specific manufacturer. The AstraZeneca vaccine is not expensive, as the specific prices are secret, but in addition to the donations made by Bulgaria, it has...