BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The EU is in talks with Moderna about buying more COVID-19 vaccine and AstraZeneca, which has stalled talks, has proposed to supply doses of its own vaccine outside of Europe to offset supply interruptions, say two EU -sources. .
The European Union has set a target to vaccinate 70% of its adult population by the end of the summer, but is struggling to get the doses promised by pharmaceutical companies.
It is now seeking to expand its stock of vaccines, which already amounts to nearly 2.3 billion doses from six drug manufacturers for its population of approximately 450 million.
The EU is negotiating a new supply agreement with Moderna that could nearly double the volume of the US biotech company’s vaccine doses, two senior EU officials involved in the talks told Reuters.
They asked for anonymity as the conversations are confidential.
Under the negotiated agreement, the EU would secure an additional 150 million doses of Moderna, on top of the 160 million already booked and rolled out last month.
One of the two officials said some of the doses under the new deal could be delivered by June.
The second was more cautious, pointing out the difficulties Moderna has encountered in delivering only 10 million doses to the EU in the first quarter of 2021.
However, the number of available injections can be increased as the number of doses that can be withdrawn from each Moderna vial is increased.
Moderna declined to comment on the talks with the EU. But it said it had discussions with regulatory authorities in several countries about the possibility of increasing the number of doses in vials from 10 to 15.
The Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The EU is also close to finalizing talks with Novavax for 200 million doses, said one of the officials, confirming a report from Reuters last week.
“BUILT ON SAND”
On Friday, officials in Brussels and AstraZeneca executives discussed the cut in deliveries the Anglo-Swedish drug maker announced last month, when it told the EU it had cut its delivery targets for the bloc due to a manufacturing problem.
That would have cut deliveries through March to 31 million doses instead of the 80 million initially agreed.
Under pressure, AstraZeneca, which co-developed its vaccine with the University of Oxford, later offered to increase its stock to 40 million for the first quarter.
The EU and AstraZeneca are now holding weekly meetings to find ways to boost production quickly, the two sources said.
AstraZeneca executives told EU officials on Friday that in order to speed up supplies to the block, it could deliver single doses manufactured outside of Europe, the two sources said. One said the Serum Institute of India (SII) could be a supplier.
The UK drug regulator is also monitoring manufacturing processes at the SII plant, a move that could pave the way for AstraZeneca’s vaccine to be shipped from there to Britain and other countries, two sources said.
SII is the leading supplier of vaccines to poorer countries under a program co-led by the World Health Organization. It is unclear whether these deliveries could be affected by possible deliveries to wealthier countries.
AstraZeneca also cited a US manufacturing facility as a potential supplier to the EU, but did not mention volumes or timing of deliveries, one source said.
AstraZeneca and the SII were not immediately available for comment.
Both EU sources said the company’s new offers were unclear. A source said it was still unclear whether AstraZeneca could deliver the 40 million doses promised for the first three months of 2021, and that there were only vague commitments for the second quarter.
“It is all built on sand,” said the official.
EU officials have said the US vaccine factory that AstraZeneca has named is in Baltimore, but have not provided further details.
Under agreements announced last year, Catalent’s Maryland facility will make the drug used in AstraZeneca’s vaccine and Emergent BioSolutions Inc is making the admission at its Baltimore facility.
Deliveries from factories outside the EU should be approved by the EU drug regulator, EU officials said.
The EU has said that two factories producing AstraZeneca’s vaccine in Britain should supply the EU on the basis of the contract with the company. AstraZeneca has said the UK government has prevented exports of the vaccine, citing its own supply contract.
The UK government has declined to say whether its contract with AstraZeneca gives priority to UK deliveries.
Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio in Brussels, Elvira Pollina in Milan; additional reporting by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt, Euan Rocha in Mumbai; edited by Josephine Mason and Timothy Heritage