BRUSSELS, March 13 (Reuters) – AstraZeneca’s new target of supplying 30 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the European Union by the end of March depends on approval of supplies from a factory in the Netherlands by the block drug regulator.
The Anglo-Swedish pharmacist said on Friday that it would try to deliver 30 million doses to the EU by the end of March, contrary to the contractual obligation of 90 million and the previous promise made last month to deliver 40 million doses.
The new lower target for the March deliveries, which was confirmed by a previous Reuters report, depends on the regulatory approval of a vaccine factory in Leiden run by subcontractor Halix, according to the March 10 internal document.
EU leaders have been on fire for deploying vaccines at a much slower pace than neighboring Britain due to a longer approval and purchase process, as well as repeated delays in AstraZeneca supplies and from other drug manufacturers.
AstraZeneca stated in the document seen by Reuters that it is supposed that the Halix factory will get the green light on March 25 and that it has released about 10 million doses over the next week.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) confirmed in a statement that the Halix factory had not yet been approved and declined to comment on when any authorization could be granted.
An EU official close to the EMA decision-making told Reuters that a decision “perhaps” could come in late March.
It was unclear whether any delay in plant approval would also affect AstraZeneca’s vaccine supplies to the EU during the second quarter.
A spokesman for AstraZeneca declined to comment on the factory’s approval status or its production and storage capacity. Halix declined to comment on its regulatory approval.
The Halix plant is one of four mentioned as vaccine manufacturers for the EU in AstraZeneca’s supply contract with Brussels signed in August.
However, only one from Belgium has been used to supply the block so far, according to EU officials, who have noted that two UK plants have not exported vaccines to the EU.
In its statement on Friday, AstraZeneca also said it “intends” to deliver 70 million doses to the EU during the period from April to June, despite contractual obligations of 180 million shots.
He said export restrictions had prevented him from boosting supplies to the EU from its global network to make up for production problems in the EU supply chain.
Shortly after Reuters reported in February that the company had told the EU it could deliver less than 90 million doses in the second quarter, AstraZeneca said it was still committed to reaching the 180 million supply target.
Overall, the company now aims to ship only 100 million vaccines to the EU by the end of June, instead of the 300 million provided for in the contract. (Report by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio in Brussels; Additional report by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; Edited by David Clarke)