Covid-19: AstraZeneca foresees delays in delivery of its vaccine to the EU
A dose of AstraZeneca vaccine (illustrative image).
AP - Gareth Fuller
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The Anglo-Swedish laboratory AstraZeneca announced on Friday that its production lines would not be able to supply enough vaccines to fulfill the order placed by the European Union.
The delay time is not exactly estimated but the volumes will be reduced by more than half.
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With our correspondent in Brussels,
Pierre Benazet
In the first quarter, AstraZeneca will deliver to the European Union only 31 million doses instead of the 80 million planned, according to figures raised before European officials.
So that's 61% less.
A serious setback for the Europeans who relied heavily on the arrival of this vaccine designed with Oxford academics to compensate for
the delays accused by Pfizer
that the arrival of the Moderna vaccine is not enough to fill.
AstraZeneca vaccine is also much cheaper and does not need to be stored at -70 ° C.
AstraZeneca attributes this reduction in its ambitions to production problems.
The Anglo-Swedish laboratory announced the news at a meeting of the committee for vaccine strategy which brings together laboratories, the Commission and governments.
They expressed their "
deep dissatisfaction
", a diplomatic way of saying that the tone must have risen.
The Commission adds that it will continue to demand predictability and stability of deliveries from AstraZeneca.
► Read also: The United Kingdom begins a second vaccination campaign with the AstraZeneca vaccine
In total, the European pre-order for this vaccine amounts to 400 million doses and the European Medicines Agency expects its validation for January 29.
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