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An inspection by the Italian authorities, on behalf of the European Union, at the Catalent plant in Anagni (Frosinone) found 29 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that the EU did not know. The inspection, Palazzo Chigi confirms with a note, was requested on Saturday by the European Commission. Prime Minister Draghi informed Health Minister Roberto Speranza, who sent the Nas to the scene. The lots found at Anagni were destined for belgium: There, Astrazeneca explained, there is a logistics center that deals with the distribution of the vaccine in the different countries.
In the early afternoon of March 24, AstraZeneca posted a note saying that 13 million doses are destined for Covax (the United Nations program for the distribution of vaccines in low-income countries) and another 16 million “to Europe”. One response came from EU sources, according to press agencies: “We do not speculate whether the doses were destined for the EU or not”, but if “the company wants to export these doses outside the EU, it will have to submit an application authorization from the Italian authorities’. “The truth is that, apart from an amount planned for Covax, the rest of the doses will be distributed exclusively among the EU countries.He said on the Spanish radio Ser string the EU commissioner Thierry breton, head of the working group on vaccines.
Doses “destined for Belgium”
The request for an inspection at the Anagni site in Italy was initiated on Saturday by EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, who heads the Working Group on Vaccines. The Italian government agreed to the request and sent the Nas to the Catalent plant, which is busy filling the Oxford serum. The inspection made it possible to verify the existence of some batches of vaccines, corresponding to 29 million doses, which they were destined for belgium. AstraZeneca later stated that there is a logistics center that handles the distribution of the vaccine.
EU: “AstraZeneca is way behind with deliveries”
When the news broke, the Financial Times reported that the European Commission was willing to block the export of the lots (also in light of the EU’s export control regulation, which came into effect on February 1), Unless they weren’t intended for Europeans. Union Market. The Vice-President of the EU Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, spoke today about “Severe breaches” of AstraZeneca in the distribution of vaccines in the European Union: «di 120 million doses “that should have been delivered in the first quarter under the contract, has been cut to” 30 million but not even close to this figure“It is up to the company (AstraZeneca, ed) to decide where the doses” stored in Anagni “go, but we can’t help but notice that AstraZeneca is way behind with deliveries” to the European Union, “Dombrovskis said.
AstraZeneca: “13 million doses for the Covax program”
In the early afternoon of Wednesday, March 24, the company later communicated, through a note, that 13 million doses are destined for the UN Covax program, designed to guarantee access to the Covid-19 vaccine for countries of low income. “At the moment there are no exports other than Covax countries,” the AstraZeneca statement reads, “There are 13 million vaccine doses pending QA release to be shipped to Covax. as part of our commitment to deliver millions of doses to low-income countries ”. The EU, the company specifies, “fully supports the supply of low- and middle-income countries through the Covax instrument.”
AstraZeneca: “Another 16 million doses for the EU in Anagni”
AstraZeneca also specified that in the Anagni plant there are “another 16 million doses of the vaccine pending the launch of quality control and destined for Europe“. The pharmaceutical company has released it with the intention of” clarifying some inaccurate statements about vaccine doses at the Anagni plant“.” Almost 10 million doses will be delivered to EU countries during the last week of March, the rest in April, as the doses have been approved for release after quality control, “the statement read of the company.
AstraZeneca vaccine: knowledge
The EU awaits confirmation on the provenance of the lots
Following the publication of the AstraZeneca note, EU sources have made it known that the EU Working Group on Vaccines, led by Commissioner Breton, is awaiting confirmation on the exact provenance of the lots identified in Anagni. “We are confident that AstraZeneca will do everything possible to ensure that all available batches are shipped as soon as the quality control process is complete,” the sources told news agencies. In the meantime, Breton stated: “The truth is that, apart from an amount planned for Covax, the rest of the doses will be distributed exclusively among the countries of the EU.
March 24, 2021 (change March 24, 2021 | 17:11)
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