BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU talks with Moderna over purchase of more COVID-19 vaccine and AstraZeneca, with which talks have stalled, has suggested delivering doses of its own vaccine made outside Europe to offset supply cuts, according to two EU sources.
The European Union has set itself the goal of vaccinating 70% of its adult population by the end of the summer, but has struggled to achieve the doses promised by pharmaceutical companies.
It is now trying to expand its stockpile of vaccines, which already amount to nearly 2.3 billion doses from six drug manufacturers for its population of about 450 million.
The EU is negotiating a new supply deal with Moderna that could almost double the vaccine dose volume of the US biotech firm, two senior EU officials involved in the talks told Reuters.
They asked for anonymity, as the conversations are confidential.
Under the agreement being negotiated, the EU would get an additional 150 million doses of Moderna, in addition to the 160 million that have already been booked and started to be implemented last month.
One of the two officials said some of the doses in the new deal could be delivered in June.
The second was more cautious, noting the difficulties Moderna has faced in delivering just 10 million doses to the EU in the first quarter of 2021.
However, the volume of shots available could be increased if the number of doses that can be extracted from each vial of Moderna increases.
Moderna declined to comment on talks with the EU. But he said he was holding discussions with regulatory authorities in different countries about the possibility of increasing the number of doses in vials to 15 out of 10.
The Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The EU is also about to end talks with Novavax for 200 million doses, one official said, confirming a Reuters report last week.
“BUILD ON THE SAND”
On Friday, Brussels officials and AstraZeneca executives discussed the cut in deliveries announced by the Anglo-Swedish pharmacist last month, when he told the EU he had reduced the bloc’s supply targets due to a problem of production.
This would have reduced deliveries to 31 million doses by March instead of the 80 million initially agreed.
Under pressure, AstraZeneca, which developed its vaccine with Oxford University, later offered to raise supplies to 40 million during the first quarter.
The EU and AstraZeneca are now holding weekly meetings to find ways to increase production quickly, the two sources said.
AstraZeneca executives told EU officials on Friday that, in order to speed up supplies to the bloc, it could provide it with some doses manufactured outside of Europe, the two sources said. One said the Serum Institute of India (SII) could be a provider.
The British drug regulator is also auditing the manufacturing processes at the SII plant, an action that could pave the way for AstraZeneca’s vaccine to be shipped from there to Britain and other countries, two sources said.
SII is the leading provider of vaccines to the poorest countries under a scheme co-led by the World Health Organization. It is unclear whether these supplies could be affected by possible deliveries to richer countries.
AstraZeneca also mentioned an American manufacturing plant as a possible supplier to the EU, but did not indicate volumes or timing of deliveries, one source said.
AstraZeneca and the SII were not immediately available for comment.
Both EU sources said the company’s new offerings were unclear. A source said it was still unclear whether AstraZeneca could administer the 40 million doses committed during the first three months of 2021 and there were only vague commitments for the second quarter.
“Everything is built on sand,” the official said.
EU officials have said the US vaccine factory AstraZeneca has mentioned it is in Baltimore, but have not given further details.
Under the agreements announced last year, Catalent’s facilities in Maryland will manufacture the pharmacological substance used in the AstraZeneca vaccine and Emergent BioSolutions Inc. is firing at its Baltimore facility.
Shipments from factories outside the EU should be authorized by the EU drug regulator, EU officials said.
The EU has said two factories producing AstraZeneca vaccine in Britain should supply the EU under its contract with the company. AstraZeneca has said the British government prevented vaccine exports by citing its own supply contract.
The British government has not wanted to say whether its contract with AstraZeneca gives priority to British supplies.
Reports by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio in Brussels, Elvira Pollina of Milan; additional reports from Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt, Euan Rocha in Mumbai; edited by Josephine Mason and Timothy Heritage