[News] AstraZeneca admits to having new problems supplying its anti-virus vaccines in the European Union

[#Steeven.™]

The firm will use "its global capacity" to guarantee the delivery of 180 million doses to Europe in the second half of the year.

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca acknowledged new vaccine production difficulties in Europe and indicated that it will have to turn to factories abroad to meet dose deliveries to the European Union in the second half.

AstraZeneca "is working to increase the productivity of its supply chain in the EU", and will use "its global capacity to guarantee the delivery of 180 million doses to the EU in the second half of the year," it said Tuesday night. a spokesman for the British-Swedish group told AFP.

"About half of the planned volume is expected to come from the supply chain in the EU," and the rest will come from the company's international network, the spokesperson said.

The announcement comes after controversy over AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine deliveries to the European Union in the first quarter of 2021 sparked tensions between the EU and the pharmaceutical group.

On Thursday there will be an extraordinary European summit by videoconference, with a particular focus on the health crisis.

The British government immunized millions of people with AstraZeneca's vaccine since late 2020. But the company didn't start delivering to the EU until early February 2021, after the European drug regulator took time to recommend its use.