As AstraZeneca approaches European authorization for the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine, the drug manufacturer has notified officials that initial shipments will be lighter than initially expected.
Two German-language publications, Bild and oe24, report that AZ has notified EU officials this week that first-quarter deliveries will be lower than initially expected. An AstraZeneca spokesman attributed the drop to “reduced yields in a factory in our European supply chain”.
“We will supply tens of millions of doses in February and March to the European Union as we continue to increase production volumes,” he said.
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The news comes after AstraZeneca applied for European authorization for its Oxford-associated vaccine earlier this month. According to reports, the company’s vaccine could get European approval by the end of January. To date, Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines have obtained European green lights.
In a phase 3 trial, the AstraZeneca vaccine was 70% effective overall, but a dosing error in some participants gave a higher efficacy result. For trial participants who received a half dose followed by a full dose, the efficacy reached 90%. For those who received two full doses, the effectiveness was 62%. The results raised questions about the vaccine and prompted AZ to perform another trial.
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Meanwhile, the UK drug maker’s first-quarter dose reduction adds to the pain of reduced EU deliveries of the Pfizer / BioNTech product this week as these companies work to increase manufacturing capacity. Some countries backed down in the face of the slowdown, although manufacturers say an upgrade of the plant will allow them to make many more doses in 2021.