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Astra Zeneca’s vaccine deliveries to the EU will be cut in half during the second quarter, Sweden’s vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström told TV4. Deliveries that would replace previous losses are now absent due to export stops.
Just over a month ago, it was announced that Astra Zeneca would not meet its delivery target to the EU due to production problems. The problem was to be avoided with deliveries from other facilities, including in the US, but now the US has halted vaccine exports.
The Reuters news agency has spoken with two senior EU officials, who assure that the vaccines do not leave the country.
– The US told us that it is out of the question for the Astra Zeneca vaccine to be shipped to the EU, says an official who participated in the EU-US talks.
According to a senior EU diplomat, the European Commission also told member states on Wednesday that they should not expect any vaccines from the United States “for the time being.”
US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the United States should primarily give all Americans the corona vaccine, but that the surplus should probably go abroad.
The Astra Zeneca vaccine is not yet approved for use in the United States.
It is not clear what exactly is behind the export ban, but according to EU Reuters sources, negotiations with the United States on vaccines will continue, probably as early as this week.
Also stop deliveries from India
Astra Zeneca had also said that the dropouts could be replaced with deliveries from India, but according to vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström, there have been export stops there as well.
Deliveries from there, however, were not around the corner. According to Reuters, the EU pharmaceutical authorities are still approving production facilities in India.
The Serum Institute of India would manufacture the Astra Zeneca vaccine for EU needs, and both the plant and the manufacturing substances must be approved by the EU. An EU source told Reuters the process is “complicated”.
Astra Zeneca has not commented on the news of the export ban.
As a result of the export ban, EU countries only receive Astra Zeneca vaccine from facilities within the EU. This means that the number of doses administered during the April-June period is cut in half compared to what was promised.
Sources: TV4, Reuters, Swedish Radio
