Coronavirus: EU locks horns with AstraZeneca on vaccine deliveries amid ‘supply shock’
- The drug maker is struggling to meet supply targets up to the end of March
- Australia and Thailand are among countries that face supply cuts, with the latter to get some 150,000 doses instead of the 1 million it had initially requested
AstraZeneca is not doing enough to try to resolve a dispute over delayed Covid-19 vaccine deliveries to the European Union, the bloc’s top health official said on Monday, as news emerged the drug maker is also facing supply problems elsewhere.
In a sign of the EU’s frustration – after Pfizer also announced a temporary slowdown in vaccine supplies earlier in January – EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides proposed forcing drug makers to register in advance their Covid-19 vaccine exports, so the bloc can keep track of what they are doing.
AstraZeneca, which developed its shot with Oxford University, told the EU on Friday it could not meet agreed supply targets up to the end of March.
An EU official involved in the talks told Reuters that meant a 60 per cent cut to 31 million doses, a blow to the bloc which was already facing criticism for lagging the United States and Britain with its vaccination campaign.
After Friday’s unexpected announcement, the EU asked AstraZeneca to find flexible ways to deliver doses and urged it to disclose vaccine production and distribution data.