Polish government denies reports it is suspending AstraZeneca vaccines

Poland’s government has denied reports that it will stop administering the Oxford–AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, saying that media reports it had already done so were an “overinterpretation” of the facts.

Yesterday, the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper cited a statement it had received from the Governmental Agency for Strategic Reserves saying that: “Due to the unpredictability and irregularity of deliveries of AstraZeneca’s product to Poland, vaccinations with the first dose have been suspended.”

The newspaper noted, however, that reserves would be maintained to provide second doses for those who have already received the first.

Poland contracted 16 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine last year, but has repeatedly suffered from delayed or reduced deliveries. Reports of cases of blood clots linked to the vaccine also discouraged Poles from signing up for it given that three others – Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna – were available.

Gazeta Wyborcza notes that many vaccination points have not ordered AstraZeneca vaccines for weeks because there is no interest in them. Only 18,000 people in the whole country are registered for a first AstraZeneca dose in June, the newspaper reports.

However, 1.7 million people are still waiting for a second dose of the vaccine, and vaccination points are reportedly transferring unused supplies between themselves to match that need, according to Gazeta Wyborcza‘s sources.

The newspaper also notes that the government has again reduced the minimum waiting time between doses for other vaccines, in an effort to encourage people to register. The gap will now be three weeks for Pfizer and four for Moderna.

In response to yesterday’s reports, however, the president of the Governmental Agency for Strategic Reserves, Michał Kuczmierowski, denied that first doses of AstraZeneca would no longer be administered.

“Information about the suspension of vaccinations with AstraZeneca vaccine is an overinterpretation,” he told Polsat News. “The irregularity and unpredictability of vaccine deliveries by AstraZeneca prompted us to provide priority services to people waiting for the second dose from current deliveries to Poland.”

But stocks remain available and “anyone who wants to can sign up for AstraZeneca vaccination”, he added.

Poland’s vaccine rollout has so far proceeded at a similar pace to the European Union average. The country has administered 60 doses per 100 people (compared to 62 per 100 across the EU) and around 23% of the population is fully vaccinated (compared to 21.5% across the EU).

However, the government has voiced concern at the large proportion of the public that appear not to want to be vaccinated. Despite all adults being eligible to register since 9 May, only around half had done so by the end of the month.

To encourage more people to sign up, the government is launching a lottery offering prizes of up to one million zloty (€223,000) for people who are vaccinated.

Main image credit: Oleksandr Zhadan/Flickr (under CC BY-NC 2.0)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.