EU suggests AstraZeneca leads Covid-19 vaccines from UK

The European Union has suggested that drug manufacturer AstraZeneca direct supplies of its coronavirus vaccine from the UK to mainland Europe as the battle over production and supply delays continues.

It comes after AstraZeneca told the EU last week that it would initially deliver far fewer doses of its Covid vaccine to the 27-member bloc than initially thought.

On Wednesday, the EU demanded that the pharmaceutical giant honor its agreement to supply the coronavirus vaccines, by whatever means.

Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said talks with the company, which continued on Wednesday, were “constructive”. But she also tweeted that “contractual obligations must be fulfilled, vaccines must be delivered to EU citizens.”

She said in a statement that the EU had rejected the ‘first-come, first-served’ logic after AstraZeneca’s CEO blamed delivery delays for teething problems at its European manufacturing sites, saying similar problems were in the UK ironed out because it had ordered its vaccine dose three months earlier than the EU.

In a press conference, Kyriakides said there was “no hierarchy” in the manufacturing sites mentioned in its purchase agreement with AstraZeneca, and that there was no provision as to which would or would not supply the EU.

“The contract lists four factories, but it doesn’t differentiate between the UK and Europe. The UK factories are part of our sales agreement and therefore they have to supply,” she said. There was no clause in the contract stating that the drugmaker would give priority to the UK, she added.

It marks the latest development in the very public discussion between the EU and AstraZeneca, as the latter faces problems in two of its European factories.

The CEO of the British-Swedish company, Pascal Soriot, further fueled tensions on Tuesday when he said in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica that the deal with the EU was a “best effort” and not a “contractual commitment”.

The EU hit back, demanding that the drug manufacturer present detailed plans for its delivery schedule. An official explicitly asked AstraZeneca to divert UK-made doses to the EU, although the company did not respond to the matter, according to a report from Reuters.

In the Tuesday interview, Soriot said: “The UK government said that the supply coming from the UK’s supply chain would go to the UK first. In fact, that’s how it is. The EU agreement states that the production sites in the UK an option for Europe, but only later. “

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not respond directly to the matter on Wednesday, saying, “We have great confidence in our stocks, we have great confidence in our contracts, and on that basis we will continue.”

The EU is struggling to get its vaccination drive going because it has no supplies. It was first hit by vaccine maker Pfizer-BioNTech, which announced it had to temporarily cut production to improve its production capacity in Belgium. This was then followed by AstraZeneca last Friday to lower its delivery estimates for the region.

An unnamed senior EU official told Reuters the block was expecting about 80 million doses by March, but had been told it would receive just 31 million doses instead. The company has not confirmed the quantities involved.

The European Medicines Agency is expected to approve the AstraZeneca vaccine for use on Friday.

The UK ordered 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last May, making it the first country to do so. It relies heavily on the vaccine for its immunization drive, which was ahead of that in continental Europe in early December. The EU began rolling out on December 27; originally it ordered 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in August.

So far, according to Our World In, the UK has vaccinated more than 7.1 million people with a first dose of vaccine and nearly half a million people received their second dose, meaning it has done more vaccinations than Germany, France, Italy and Spain combined . Data figures.