AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
Source: Shutterstock
Summary
- AstraZeneca said it cannot deliver the required number of Covid-19 vaccine shots to the European Union in Q2 2021, unless it improves on productivity.
- The pharma company was supposed to deliver 180 million jabs initially.
AstraZeneca PLC (LON: AZN) has expressed its disability to deliver the agreed doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to the European Union, but promised to increase the productivity to meet the demand of 180 million doses. An EU official said that the British-Swedish pharma major has said that it expects to deliver less than half of the estimated supply.
The company had entered into an agreement to deliver 180 million doses to the 27-nation strong bloc for Q2 2021. However, AstraZeneca would be able to supply less than 90 million doses for Q2, according to a news report by Reuters.
While the company did not deny the news, it later issued a statement saying that was striving to deliver all 180 million vaccine doses by increasing productivity. The pharmaceutical company informed that half of the jabs will come from the EU supply chain and the other half would be met from its international supply network.
In case there is a shortfall in delivery, it could lead to the EU missing its target of vaccinating 70 per cent of the adults by summer. EU plans to vaccinate its adult population by late July and the vulnerable group of over 65s by end of April in case no production of distribution shortages come in the way. However, a spokesman of the European Commission said that if other companies are able to meet the agreed deliveries on time, the EU should have more than expected jabs to achieve its estimated vaccination targets.
The announcement of shortfall comes after FTSE 100 UK stock along with its partner Oxford University has already been in a controversy over deliveries of its jab to the EU for the first quarter.
The cutting of AstraZeneca’s vaccine supply by 60 per cent due to production issue in its Belgium factory has caused tension between the company and the EU sparking fury among European leaders that AstraZeneca was exporting its jab to other countries for profit-making purposes.
Related Read: AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) tries to clear the air over vaccine shortage with EU
The EU officials also confirmed that AstraZeneca has planned to deliver about 40 million doses in Q1 2021 compared to the 90 million shots that it had earlier agreed to provide. The company was also supposed to supply 30 million doses in Q4 2020 but could not do so because of the late approval from the EU regulator. The EU had permitted the AZD1222 vaccine with a conditional marketing authorisation (CMA) in February
The AstraZeneca spokesperson stated that the company was continuously revising its delivery schedule and informing the same to the European Commission on a weekly basis. The EU could meet its vaccination target if AstraZeneca increases the pace of its production in Q3 2021.
AstraZeneca is not the only candidate that has failed to deliver its contracted supply to the EU, the bloc has also faced delays in deliveries from the US candidates -- Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
On 24 February, the shares of AZN quoted GBX 7,033.00 at 11:48 AM GMT, trading below 1.44 per cent from its previous session of GBX 7,136.00.
