BRUSSELS (Reuters) – AstraZeneca has once again angered the EU by scaling back the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, but gained momentum on Friday when the World Health Organization dispelled fears that led to it. countries in Europe and Asia have stopped using the image.
The European Union has been much slower to launch a major vaccine than nearby Britain due to a slower licensing and purchasing process and resumption of supply.
EU regulators have denied scattered reports of blood clots in people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, but on Friday Thailand joined with a handful of European countries in banning the use of the picture – the first and the cheapest ones developed and launched at worldwide size.
An AstraZeneca document dated March 10, seen by Reuters and shared with EU officials, shows that the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker expects to deliver 30 million doses to the EU by the end of the year. March – 10 million less than he promised just last month, and only a third of contractual obligation.
A company declined to comment on refusing to comment, but someone familiar with the situation said there had been problems with international supply chains.
Industry members have warned of manufacturing problems as countries try to protect their own sources of vaccines, ingredients and the equipment for their manufacture, bottling and transportation.
Washington has told Brussels that it will not allow AstraZeneca scenes made in the United States to be exported soon, Reuters reported Thursday.
And last week Italy and Brussels suspended shipments of AstraZeneca vaccines from Italy to Australia, in the first application of an approach that allows the EU to reject export applications from manufacturers vaccine in breach of EU supply treaties.
The company has accepted production problems in the EU, but also said it planned to send some products to the EU from the United States.
Its contract promises “reasonable best efforts” to achieve a target of 300 million doses for the EU by the end of June.
“DON’T TAKE”
Brussels is becoming increasingly difficult.
“I see efforts, but not ‘best efforts’. That’s not good enough yet, ”EU business commissioner Thierry Breton struck on Thursday.
Germany said it was talking to Washington about shipments of COVID-19 vaccines missed from the United States, noting that more than 30 countries were including the United States receiving EU-made vaccines.
The EU program has also been in turmoil in the last two weeks with reports of blood clots.
On Thursday, Denmark and members outside the EU Norway and Iceland stopped using the vaccine. Austria and Italy have stopped using special badges.
But on Friday the WHO said the vaccine was “excellent” and that no causal link had been established with the blood clots.
“It is very important to understand that we should, we should continue to use the AstraZeneca vaccine,” spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a briefing. “Everything we always look for is: Any safety signal must be checked.”
AstraZeneca said Thursday it had found no evidence that there was an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis in more than 10 million recipient records.
And the EU regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said Wednesday that the number of reported clots in people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine was not higher than in the general population.
Bulgaria said it would stop using the vaccine until it saw written instructions from the EMA, but German Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters on Friday that his country was following EMA guidelines.
“Everything we know so far suggests that the benefits of the vaccine, even after each individual case has been reported, outweigh the risks, and that remains true. “he said.
Germany, the most populous country in the EU, is expected to receive around 6 million doses from AstraZeneca by the end of April, the document seen by Reuters shows, with France receiving 4.7 million and Italy 4.4 million.
“We are still in a state of total shortage,” Spahn said.
Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio in Brussels, Thomas Escritt in Berlin and Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia; Written by Kevin Liffey; Edited by Gareth Jones