AstraZeneca warns it will deliver fewer vaccines to the EU than planned - again

On Saturday, AstraZeneca stated that the EU would again receive fewer vaccine doses than previously planned.

The Swedish-British pharmaceutical giant said production problems and export restrictions were behind the issues.

“AstraZeneca is disappointed to have to announce that it will not be able to meet planned COVID-19 vaccine deliveries to the European Union, despite the fact that we have worked tirelessly to speed up the process,” a statement from the company noted on Saturday.

As recently as Friday, Sweden’s vaccine chief announced that Sweden would receive 3.3 million fewer doses of the vaccine than expected in the first half of 2021.

Norway was notified on Thursday that the country would receive 1 million fewer doses than expected in the first half of the year. The National Institute of Public Health (FHI) was in contact with AstraZeneca on Friday after it became known that Sweden would get fewer doses but received the answer that there will be no further delays to Norway now.

Delays

That means that AstraZeneca will deliver 670,000 vaccine doses to Norway in the second quarter of 2021.

It is not clear what the latest delay will mean for deliveries to Norway. AstraZeneca also ended up in a conflict with the EU in January over delayed vaccine deliveries.

The news of the delay aroused anger and despair in European countries that had counted on the cheap vaccine in the fight against the pandemic.

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