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AstraZeneca says it is still aiming to supply 180 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the European Union in the second quarter of the year, despite media reports to the contrary.
The Anglo-Swedish drug company made the comment after a Reuters report quoted an EU official saying that the drug company would deliver less than half of the COVID-19 vaccines — co-developed with the University of Oxford — it was contracted to supply to the 27-member bloc in the second quarter.
AstraZeneca AZN, -0.22% agreed in August 2020 to supply up to 400 million doses to the EU. Based on the revised delivery schedule, that included 90 million in the first quarter of 2021 and 180 million in the second quarter, as the company said earlier this month. It is also delivering 17 million doses of the shot to the EU in February.
“AstraZeneca confirms today that its most recent Q2 forecast for the delivery of its COVID-19 vaccine aims to deliver in line with its contract with the European Commission. As per this contract, approximately half of the expected volume is due to come from the EU supply chain, while the remainder would come from its international supply network,” said a spokesperson for AstraZeneca AZN, +1.84% in an emailed statement.
“At this stage AstraZeneca is working to increase productivity in its EU supply chain and to continue to make use of its global capability in order to achieve delivery of 180 million doses to the EU in the second quarter,” the spokesperson added.
Shares in AstraZeneca, which have fallen by almost 4% so far this year, fell 1.4% in midmorning trading in London on Wednesday.
Read: AstraZeneca: Jabs for new variants need 6 months
AstraZeneca’s contract with the EU has come under intense scrutiny after the drug company warned in January that it wouldn’t be able to fulfill its delivery obligations to the bloc, due to manufacturing issues at some of its European plants.
The shortfall in deliveries led to a high-profile row with the EU, which has been lagging behind countries like the U.K., Israel and the U.S. in rolling out vaccine shots for its healthcare workers and most vulnerable people.
AstraZeneca has consistently said that it wasn’t legally required to deliver to the EU on a precise timetable, because it had only committed to supplying vaccines under a “best-effort” clause.
The contract also reveals that the European Commission — the executive arm of the EU — and member states waived the right to sue AstraZeneca over any delays in COVID-19 vaccine deliveries.
In total, AstraZeneca plans to produce as many as 3 billion doses of its vaccine globally this year. Earlier in February, AstraZeneca said it expected to produce more than 200 million doses a month of its shot for use worldwide by April.
The European Medicines Authority authorized the use of the AstraZeneca–Oxford vaccine for all adults in January, more than a month after it was given a green light in the U.K. But several member states, including Germany, Austria and France, haven’t cleared it for use in people over 65, citing insufficient data for that age group.
The shot was officially recommended for use worldwide for all adults by the World Health Organization on Feb. 10.
