March 24, 2021
20:11
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Europe is perplexed by the discovery of more than 29 million vaccine doses of AstraZeneca in Italy. That stock is more than double what AstraZeneca delivered to Europe. The find raises more questions than AstraZeneca wants to answer.
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The newspaper La Stampa reported the find on Wednesday 29 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in an Italian factory of the American Catalent located in Anagni, not far from Rome. The factory is the only one in Europe to bottle the vaccines and take care of the final finishing. The discovery of the huge stockpile of vaccines hit like a bomb, as AstraZeneca is failing to approach the delivery schedule agreed with Europe. 29 million doses is more than double what the company already delivered to Europe.
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The agreement was that the company would deliver 90 million doses in the first quarter of this year, and 180 million in the second quarter. The pharmaceuticals manufacturer reduced deliveries for the first quarter to barely 30 million doses. But AstraZeneca is a long way off even from that drastically reduced delivery schedule, says Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Trade Commissioner. Only 70 million – highly uncertain – doses are still planned in the second quarter.
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Also the this about the Halix site in Leiden and fears of clandestine exports to the UK play a part. The site is included in both the European and British purchase contracts with AstraZeneca as a production unit. But the pharmaceutical manufacturer delayed endlessly to obtain a European homologation of the site. Europe and the UK are now both claiming the vaccine stock in Leiden.
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Telephone from Brussels
The stock was not found just like that: Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Industry, asked the Italian health police to carry out an inspection of the company this weekend. Breton is responsible for the upscaling of production in Europe, but gets a headache from the unclear production figures and evasive communication.
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Italy blocked exports of 250,000 doses to Australia last month. These too came from the Anagni finishing factory. It is not inconceivable that the stock is ready for export. It took well into the afternoon for an official statement from AstraZeneca. But that did not take away the mistrust. 13 million doses are for the Covax initiative, which purchases vaccines for vaccination in poor countries. The remaining 16 million doses are destined for Europe and will be sent to Belgium, it says. But those ‘magic vaccines’ just show that the company is not putting all the cards on the table, can be heard in EU circles.
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