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At the end of January, Astra Zeneca announced fewer doses. Between January and March, the EU would receive 60 percent fewer doses than agreed. The announcement sparked a political uproar when the EU threatened to shut down exports to Northern Ireland to prevent vaccines from taking the “backroad” of the British. The union then backed down, but the reaction reveals the level of the conflict.
Astra Zeneca pointed to production problems at a subcontractor in Belgium as the cause of the problem. The EU demanded doses from other factories, saying Astra Zeneca had breached its contract. Sweden’s vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström thought it was “clear” that the company was wrong.
– For me, this is very clear, there are a number of facilities named in the contract and they will deliver a certain number of doses, he said in connection with the announcement.
Biological and non-chemical process
In an interview with Dagens industri, the chairman of the board of the pharmaceutical giant, Leif Johansson, has given an explanation that the problem lies in the fact that the manufacturing process is biological and not chemical.
– The process time for creating the vaccine is two to four months. Includes bioreactors, filtration steps, and process steps. Then you reap what you have made. We have not managed to get a good performance out of that process in Europe. Therefore, it is not about money or work. It’s a matter of knowledge and fine-tuning a process, he says.
This week, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton inspected the factory in Seneffe, a few kilometers from Brussels, which is owned by the US company Thermo Fisher. In relation to the visit, the tone was softer than it had previously been in the EU, and Thierry Breton called the work “remarkable”.
Cédric Volanti, European director of Thermo Fisher, assured in the same press conference that “they respect the agreement with Astra Zeneca” and that now production is increasing.
Astra Zeneca promises more doses
Astra Zeneca promises more doses to the EU than previously announced. But not as much as promised from the start.
– We should have received 300 million doses. And now they said we will get a total of 190. It is much smaller, but still something, says Richard Bergström.
When the EU signed a contract with Astra Zeneca in August, it was decided that the company would deliver 300 million doses in the first half of 2021. The reduction, which was later announced in January, that the EU would receive 60 percent less, that would mean 120 million doses during the same period. Now that forecast has increased to 190 million doses.
Sweden’s share of the cake is 2.5 percent, says Richard Bergström, which is 4.75 million doses for the first half of the year.
Other subcontractors come into play
Increased production at the Belgian factory helps Astra Zeneca extend the promise, but it is not the only reason. The EU will receive doses from British and American suppliers.
– It’s the combination of being able to bring it up a bit in Belgium, plus the addition of the other facilities, says Richard Bergström.
That there has been a failure in the production is not in itself alarming, says Richard Bergström and clarifies that it is not anyone’s fault but something that can happen, because the component is cultivated and is not the result of a chemical process.
– You have big thoughts of a couple of thousand liters, and then you grow a so-called mass there. And then maybe you count on getting x number of kilos, let’s say 500 kilos, and then only getting 200 at a time, explains Richard Bergström, and compares it to a fermentation process:
– A bread that is supposed to ferment, but ferments much less and is only half as large. And then you ask yourself: what happens now? Is it yeast, is it too hot, are there drafts in the kitchen?
Criticism of the EU remains strong
He says that the EU’s criticisms, which are firm, concern two issues.
– One: they took time to talk about it. The second is that we have other factories in our contract that it should be able to deliver from, he says, adding that constructive discussions are taking place.
The target of the vaccine is also fixed. Thanks to the larger deliveries during March and April, everyone in Sweden who wants a vaccine before the end of the first half of the year, says Richard Bergström. Ultimately, a higher proportion of Swedes will be vaccinated with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine.
– If I imagine myself in the situation in which I sit on the first of July and think: “What have we used for something?”, Astra Zeneca does not represent more than ten percent.
