The pharmaceutical group AstraZenaca has again announced a drop in deliveries of coronavirus vaccine to the European Union via a press release.
He had already reduced the number of doses promised at the end of January.
The announcement comes as injections of this controversial vaccine are halted in some countries.
Due to export restrictions, British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is facing further reductions in deliveries of its Covid-19 vaccine to the European Union.
In a press release, the group said "regret" to announce this drop and recalls "its tireless work to accelerate the supply".
This is the second time that it has gone back on its commitments in terms of delivery.
Only 100 million doses promised instead of 300 million
Faced with production difficulties, the group had decided to use its production sites outside the EU to try to partially compensate and deliver the Member States of the Union but "unfortunately, export restrictions will reduce deliveries in the first quarter "and" probably "in the second, according to a spokesperson for the group.
This aims to deliver 100 million doses in the first half of the year: 30 million in the first quarter and 70 million in the second.
AstraZeneca announced at the end of January that it could only deliver 40 million doses to the Twenty-Seven in the first quarter, out of the 120 million it had initially promised, due to manufacturing difficulties in a Belgian factory.
For the second quarter, AstraZeneca was initially expected to deliver 180 million doses to the EU.
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The group said it was "working with the European Commission and Member States to resolve supply difficulties" and said it was "confident that the productivity of its supply chain in the EU will continue to improve, to help to protect millions of Europeans against the virus ".
Confirming the continuation of discussions with the group, the European Commission stressed that it insisted that the company do "everything possible to honor its commitments".
But European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who heads the EU vaccines taskforce, deemed the group's efforts insufficient.
The European Commission, which negotiates contracts on behalf of its 27 member states, expects deliveries to ramp up in the second quarter.
They could reach the average rate of 100 million doses per month from April to June all vaccines combined, or 300 million for the entire quarter.
The European Commission is targeting 70% of Europeans vaccinated by the end of the summer.
Several countries suspend AstraZenaca injections
In addition to the supply difficulties, there were severe cases of blood clots, which led to the suspension of injections of the vaccine in several countries.
AstraZeneca has ensured that its vaccine does not entail any "aggravated risk" of a blood clot.
Denmark, Iceland and Norway announced Thursday the suspension of AstraZeneca vaccine injections, citing the "precautionary" principle.
Bulgaria followed suit on Friday and Thailand delayed its campaign.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that there was "no reason not to use" this vaccine and that no cause and effect relationship on the formation of clots blood had not yet been found.