The vaccine shortage triggered parliamentary questions from four MPs: Di Bartolomeo, Hahn, Halsdorf and Engelen all demanded answers from Luxembourg's minister of health Etienne Schneider.
Schneider shed light on the origins of the problem in a written response spanning three and a half pages. The directorate of the ministry of health had been aware of the looming stock shortage since early December, Schneider explained. He added that the pharmaceutical industry was an open market, which regulates itself according to supply and demand.
In theory, national pharmacies pre-order the required vaccine volumes from three pharmaceutical wholesalers, which, in turn, purchase the product from the pharmaceutical industry. In recent years, Luxembourg required approximately 54,000 doses of the vaccine. Pharmacies usually use this number as an indication of how many doses they need to pre-order for the next season.
Last winter, one of the three suppliers announced that they would reduce their production and therefore no longer deliver the vaccine to the Grand Duchy. In other words, only two (out of three) pharmaceutical wholesalers, namely the Belgian wing of GlaxoSmithKline and Mylan from the Netherlands, still agreed to provide Luxembourg with the vaccine.
An additional problem arose when Dutch wholesaler Mylan encountered production troubles and could consequently not keep up with Luxembourg's order. National health fund CNS was notified in early October. The letter also contained a section on Luxembourg's comparatively low vaccine prices, begging the question whether the pharmaceutical company simply hoped to make more attractive margins elsewhere. The wholesalers prioritised countries that pay more for the vaccine.
Belgium's GSK proposed to cover and provide Luxembourg with the required volume. However, medical habits seem to have changed and increasing numbers of patients wanted to get vaccinated at the same time. Schneider was unable to explain the sudden craze.
OECD statistics even show a decline in vaccinations for people over the age of 65 between 2013 and 2016.
Officials do not yet know which wholesalers will provide Luxembourg with the vaccine next season. However, Dutch company Mylan already announced that its return to Luxembourg's market for the 2019/2020 season.
A couple of statistics:
Week 2 (07.01.2019 – 13.01.2019),
Influenza activity increases and again passes the epidemiological threshold.
The consultation rate for ILI (influenza-like illness) lies at 3.6%.
The rate for ARI (acute respiratory infections) lies at 18.3%.
12 cases of influenza were detected in the sentinel network, mainly AH1N1 and AH3N2.
1 case of RSV was detected in the sentinel network.
