Astra Zeneca (AZN) and European Commission (EC) contractual relationship

AstraZeneca warns EU of major hitch to Covid vaccine deliveries

• Supply-chain issues cited • Bloc already hit by Pfizer shortfall • UK leads on inoculations

MICHAEL PEEL, SAM FLEMING AND MEHREEN KHAN — BRUSSELS DONATO PAOLO MANCINI — LONDON

The EU has only approved two vaccines so far

AstraZeneca has warned EU countries to expect significant shortfalls to early deliveries of its coronavirus vaccine, in a fresh blow to the rollout of the bloc’s immunisation programme.

The EU was expecting 100m doses in the first quarter of the year. But people with knowledge of the talks said the group may fail to deliver even half that amount, although they stressed that final figures had not been established.

AstraZeneca insisted there was no “scheduled delay” to the start of shipments of its vaccines, but said “initial volumes” would “be lower than originally anticipated due to reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our European supply chain”.

Details of the revised first-quarter deliveries to the EU were still being worked out but they could be less than 40m, officials said. Part of the reason for the uncertainty is that the provisional timetables were dependent on when the vaccine receives regulatory approval, which could happen next week. The EU has pre-ordered 400m doses of the AstraZeneca jab, which was developed jointly with Oxford university.

One European official described the proposed shortfall as “significant” while another branded it a “disgrace”, reflecting the growing frustration in Europe over problems with the Covid-19 immunisation programme.

Earlier this month Pfizer told the EU that it, too, would temporarily cut shipments of its vaccine. The jab, developed with Germany’s BioNTech, is one of two to receive EU regulatory approval.

Brussels was already under pressure from some member states to speed up its rollout, which has lagged behind the US and UK’s. Germany, for example, has so far administered 1.5m jabs — equivalent to 1.8 doses per 100 people.

France has yet to hit 1m, according to the FT’s Covid-19 vaccine tracker. By contrast, the US has administered 17.4m doses, or 5.3 per 100 people.

President Joe Biden has said that he wants to inoculate 100m people in his first 100 days in office. Corporate America has also stepped in to help. Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, said yesterday it was aiming to deliver up to 13m doses a month from the pharmacies it operates in more than 5,000 US stores.

The UK, the first country to approve both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer jabs, has moved even more quickly — it has so far administered 5.8m shots, close to nine doses per 100 people.