In response to AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine production and delays, the European Union has warned that it will tighten exports of the company’s vaccine to countries outside its borders.
EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides warned it would “take any action required to protect its citizens”, adding that she had requested detailed delivery schedules and a meeting next week with the company. She added that “in the future, all companies producing vaccines against Covid-19 in the EU will have to provide early notification whenever they want to export vaccines to third countries”.
The vaccine, developed by Oxford University and the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, is still yet to be approved in the EU but should receive it by the end of January, with distribution set to start on the 15th of February. The EU has been suffering from a number of vaccination programme setbacks, including a previous announcement last week from Pfizer that its own deliveries were being delayed in order to upgrade manufacturing capabilities at a plant in Belgium, provoking ire amongst EU politicians. Italy’s PM has resigned over handling of the pandemic.
The EU had signed a deal in August to secure 300 million doses from AstraZeneca, with an option for another 100 million. Last week, AstraZeneca had announced a slowdown in delivery due to “reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our European supply chain”. The problem is thought to be from a manufacturing plant also in Belgium, which is run by an AstraZeneca partner firm. The exact size of the shortfall is not known but some believe it to be a drop of 31 million doses, or 60% of those meant to be delivered by the end of the quarter.
Where this leaves low and middle-income countries counting on the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines is unclear, but it certainly will add to mounting tension between countries seeking vaccines for their populations amidst the spread of more contagious COVID variants. President Cyril Ramaphosa warned in an address to the World Economic Forum that vaccine nationalism was a growing concern and threat to global recovery. The African Union’s vaccine task team has thus far managed to secure only 270 million doses.
Source: BBC News
