Director of health Jean-Claude Schmit is pictured on Wednesday 3 February in a televised question and answer with journalist Nathalie Reuter Screengrab

Director of health Jean-Claude Schmit is pictured on Wednesday 3 February in a televised question and answer with journalist Nathalie Reuter Screengrab

“We’re waiting for sufficient supplies and until we receive information about deliveries before sending out invitation to be vaccinated,” director of health Jean-Claude Schmit said on Wednesday evening.

Luxembourg is currently in its first stage of vaccination, targeted at frontline healthcare workers, over 75s and vulnerable people using vaccines supplied by Pfizer/Biontech and Moderna.

The EU pre-ordered 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and had the option to purchase 100 m more. The vaccine is considered a gamechanger because it does not have to be stored at sub-zero temperatures. However, the pharmaceutical firm has been slow to roll out its vaccine within the EU. Last week, a German vaccine advisory committee recommended the AstraZeneca vaccine only be used on 18-64-year-olds saying there was a lack of data on its efficacy on people aged over 65.

According to a government estimated timeframe published in January, Luxembourg was to receive enough AstraZeneca doses to vaccinate 207, 524 people.

Whether Luxembourg will administer the vaccine to over 65s, the country’s health minister, Paulette Lenert (LSAP) said during Wednesday’s talk: “We will wait and see what the infectious diseases advisory board recommends”.

Schmit added: “More definitive information will come in the coming weeks and months about this vaccine. It’s been used in several countries where it’s shown to have positive effects.”

And other vaccines?

Creators of the Sputnik V vaccine have yet to apply to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for authorisation to circulate in the EU. Schmit said its first “results are encouraging.”

Johnson & Johnson, whose vaccine is administered in a single dose, has also not made an authorisation request to the EMA. “We’re waiting for that in the coming weeks,” said Schmit.

The two outlined the six-stage approach to vaccinating Luxembourg’s population with the last stage targeting people aged 16-50. Asked when this stage might be reached, Schmit said he did not want to “make promises we cannot keep”. However he said that “optimistically, it’s possible before the summer. But there are so many unknowns, we cannot make promises.”