(Reuters) – The launch of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, the target on which much of the world depends to beat the pandemic, faced complications on Thursday as India halted vaccine exports and Europe discussed its own export controls.
India has temporarily suspended all major exports of the Anglo-Swedish firm’s vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, to meet domestic demand as infections increase, as reported by two sources.
This could delay supplies to dozens of lower-income countries that also depend on IBS production under the COVAX vaccine-sharing plan supported by the World Health Organization.
“We understand that deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines to low-income economies participating in the COVAX facility are likely to face delays …” the UNICEF program’s distribution and distribution partner told Reuters.
India’s move comes as the European Union meets on Thursday to consider giving member states more scope to block the export of vaccines outside the bloc, much of which is struggling to reduce infections and increase vaccination campaigns.
The proposal would apply to all vaccines, including AstraZeneca, which the EU had originally relied on to achieve the goal of inoculating 70% of its adult population this summer.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is considered crucial in fighting the pandemic, as it is cheaper and easier to transport than many rival shots.
The EU accuses the pharmacist of over-selling the vaccine and unfairly favoring Britain, where AstraZeneca developed the shot with Oxford University, a charge denied by the company.
Brussels agreed this week with London to try a “win-win” solution, but even if the EU resists export controls, it faces another problem: diminishing confidence in AstraZeneca’s firing due to concerns about side effects and efficacy data.
Denmark will suspend the use of the vaccine for another three weeks pending further investigations into a possible link between the vaccine and blood clots, Danish broadcaster TV 2 reported on Thursday, citing sources.
More than ten other countries also suspended the launch of the vaccine due to similar problems, but most have restarted. The European Medicines Agency said last week that it was safe and was not linked to an increased risk of global blood clots.
However, many Europeans remain wary.
One-third of Danes would refuse the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to a poll released Wednesday by Danish media. The trust has also been very successful in Spain, Germany, France and Italy.
AstraZeneca slightly revised the vaccine’s effectiveness to 76% in a new analysis of its trial in the U.S. Provisional data released Monday had put the vaccine’s effectiveness rate at 79%, but had not included more recent infections, prompting a very unusual public rebuke by U.S. health officials.
AstraZeneca, which is awaiting approval of U.S. regulations, also reiterated that the firing was 100% effective against severe or critical forms of COVID-19.
“The effectiveness of the vaccine against serious diseases, including death, places the AZ vaccine in the same park as other vaccines,” said William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and add that he expects the shot to get US approval.
The vaccine already has conditional marketing or emergency authorization in more than 70 countries.
In Europe, the leaders of France and Germany admitted on Thursday that the problem of the slow deployment of vaccines in the EU went beyond the question of whether exports were controlled.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said EU leaders would also debate how to increase domestic vaccine production.
“British production sites manufacture for Britain and the United States does not export, so we are confident in what we can do in Europe,” he told German lawmakers.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the EU itself should be to blame for its lack of ambition for vaccination plans.
“We didn’t shoot for the stars,” he told Greek TV channel ERT. “That should be a lesson for all of us.”
Written by Mark Bendeich. Edited by Mark Potter