Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca will deliver to the EU less than half the amount of COVID-19 vaccine doses that it pledged for the first quarter of 2021, company boss Pascal Soriot admitted to European lawmakers on Thursday.
The drugmaker has long said it will not be able to fulfill its target, but the confirmation remains a blow to the EU's vaccine rollout.
The bloc has fallen far behind the United States, Britain and Israel in vaccinating its public, blaming supply chain issues. About 8% of the adult population of the EU have been vaccinated, according to European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen.
AstraZeneca will now try and deliver 40 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by the end of March, down from an initial 90 million.
The pledge is in line with previous statements from the company.
On Wednesday, AstraZeneca said it would only be able to deliver half the COVID-19 vaccines it was contracted to supply the EU in the second quarter of 2021.
The EU has repeatedly urged the firm to deliver more.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot came under fire for his company's performance
What's going wrong at AstraZeneca?
Lower-than-expected yields — the amount of vaccine that can be produced from base ingredients — at its factories hurt output in the first three months, Soriot told EU lawmakers.
They discussed the bloc's slow vaccine roll out as part of coronavirus talks held via videoconference on Thursday.
"We are working 24/7 to improve delivery and hopefully catch up to the expectations for Q2," Soriot said.
The company plans on upping production by using factories outside the EU that had no production problems, including in the United States.
Soriot did not mention the 180 million target set for the second quarter.
Media reports have suggested that second-quarter deliveries would be slashed to 90 million doses.
Drug companies struggle to meet EU orders
In addition to AstraZeneca's CEO, the executives from Moderna Inc and CureVac NV also participated in the panel.
Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel said the company has experienced fluctuations as it increases production of its COVID-19 vaccination.
He said usually a company would stockpile product ahead of a launch, but it is shipping every dose it makes, leaving it without any spare inventory.
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
Millions of initial doses produced
From Sweden to Cyprus, Lithuania to Italy, the push to get people their first shots is now under way, 11 months after the first cases were reported in Europe. EU leaders have dubbed the launch of the drive "V-Day," a moment of unity in a pandemic that has killed more than 1.7 million people worldwide.
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
Elderly population a priority
Edith Kwoizalla, aged 101, was one of the first Germans to be vaccinated. She took the first of two doses at a care home in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on Saturday, a day before the official launch. German Health Minister Jens Spahn said he expected 1.3 million doses to be delivered by the end of the year, with double that number by the end of January.
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
Vaccine will also work on variant: BioNTech
The vaccine, developed partly by a German firm, has been snapped up by governments around the world. BioNTech has "scientific confidence" that its coronavirus vaccine will also work on the new variant detected in the UK, company CEO Ugur Sahin told DW. The proteins on the mutated form of the virus were 99% the same as the prevailing virus, he said.
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
Hungary starts a day early
Hungary began vaccinating health care workers on Saturday, a day ahead of the EU's planned start date. Hungary has recorded over 316,000 cases and more than 9,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
Polish paramedics vaccinated first
A Warsaw paramedic was one of the first people to receive the vaccine in Poland on Sunday. The first batch of 10,000 doses was transported from Pfizer's facility in Belgium to a warehouse in central Poland a day earlier. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called the launch "a great step in fighting the epidemic."
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
Politicians aim to ease concerns
EU leaders and scientists have gone to great lengths to insist the vaccine is safe. In the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Andrej Babis (seen here) was at the head of the line for his vaccination on Sunday. In Vienna, three women and two men over the age of 80 got the vaccine in the presence of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
'I didn't feel anything': first Swedish patient
Sweden, which has received praise and criticism for its looser handling of the pandemic, is expecting an initial batch of 10,000 shots, along with Norway. Denmark expects to have enough shots to initially vaccinate 40,000 people in care homes, followed by health care staff and those people with a high risk of illness. Iceland will receive 10,000 doses early in January.
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
First doses arrive in Cyprus
An 84-year-old man became the first patient to receive the coronavirus vaccine in Cyprus. While Europe has some of the best-resourced health care systems in the world, the sheer scale of the effort means some countries are calling on retired medics to help. Other countries have loosened rules for who is allowed to give the injections.
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
Three-stage program in Austria
A health care worker at the Hospital Favoriten in Vienna was one of the first in line to receive the vaccine. Austria is rolling the vaccine out through a three-stage program, starting with health care workers and people over the age of 65. Austria has recorded over 350,000 cases and more than 5,800 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
France: A million vaccinations by February
Mauricette, a 78-year-old French woman, was the first person to receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the Rene-Muret hospital in Sevran, on the outskirts of Paris. France is aiming to vaccinate the first million people by the end of February. The country has been one of the hardest hit in Europe, with over 2.6 million recorded cases and nearly 63,000 deaths.
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
Thumbs up in Italy
Italy began distributing the first batch of 10,000 shots on Sunday at the Niguarda hospital in Milan (seen here). In Rome, a 29-year-old nurse was the first to receive the jab at Rome's Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases. Health workers were first in line, with those over 80 to follow.
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
Portugal aims for 10% of the population
The first phase of Portugal's vaccine rollout aims to inoculate 10% of the population, with front-line workers and those over 50 with preexisting conditions taking priority. Here, a medical worker receives the vaccine at Santa Maria hospital in Lisbon.
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COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
Ambitious rollout in Spain
Spain is set to receive 350,000 doses from Pfizer-BioNTech per week, with a total of nearly 4.6 million to be delivered over the next three months. The government has said it aims to vaccinate between 15 million and 20 million people in the first half of 2021. Here, a 72-year-old receives the first injection at the Vallecas nursing home in Madrid.
The EU could approve more vaccines
The European Commission has secured around 2 billion vaccine shots from several companies. But so far only three have been authorized: those from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca.
Officials say the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be approved next month.
kmm/aw (Reuters, AP)
