Pfizer Set to Oust AstraZeneca as Top Supplier of COVID-19 Shots to Poor Nations

Pfizer Set to Oust AstraZeneca as Top Supplier of COVID-19 Shots to Poor Nations
Vials with Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine labels are seen in this illustration picture taken on March 19, 2021. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters
Reuters
Updated:

BRUSSELS—Pfizer and BioNtech are set to displace AstraZeneca as the main suppliers of COVID-19 vaccines to the global COVAX programme at the start of 2022, a shift that shows the increasing importance of their shot for poorer states.

The expected change comes with headaches for receiving countries that lack sufficient cold storage capacity to handle the Pfizer vaccine, and amid risks of a shortage of syringes needed to administer that shot.