UK faces short-term delays in Pfizer vaccine delivery as company ramps up production

The UK faces short-term delays in Pfizer vaccine delivery as the company ramps up production, it has emerged.

The Government has since moved to reassure the public that all top four priority groups are still on course to be vaccinated by mid-February.

This is despite Pfizer shipments being potentially affected by the pharmaceutical company upgrading.

Pfizer announced it would upgrade its production capacity so it can produce more doses than the ones it had planned for in 2021.

Deliveries across Europe will as a result be temporarily reduced.

The UK may also see short-term delays to deliveries as changes are underway at the pharmaceutical company's plant in Puurs, Belgium.

Shipments of the vaccine, produced in partnership with Germany's BioNTech, to the UK are set to be affected this month.

But the overall number of doses due to be delivered between January and March will remain the same, according to the US firm.

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The government nonetheless said it intends to go ahead with plans to vaccinated all top four priority groups by mid-February (Berkshire Live - Grahame Larter)

In response, a spokeswoman for the Government said that it is still working to its plan of vaccinating all four priority groups by February 15.

The vaccine from Pfizer is not the only candidate available in the UK, with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca jab also currently being rolled out.

A Pfizer spokeswoman said: "We understand a change to deliveries has the potential to create uncertainty.

"However, we can confirm the overall projected volumes of delivery to the UK remain the same for quarter one (January to March).

There could be short-term delays to the delivery of Pfizer vaccines as the company ramps up production (AFP via Getty Images)

"We continue to liaise with the UK Government and the Vaccines Taskforce to work through short-term impact of these changes to our January deliveries and support the goals of the UK Covid-19 vaccination programme."

The UK has secured 40 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.

A Government spokeswoman said: "We are in the process of understanding the implications of Pfizer's announcement today to our plans.

"However we continue to plan to hit our target of vaccinating all four priority groups by February 15."