BRUSSELS, January 22 (Reuters) – AstraZeneca told European Union officials on Friday that it would reduce deliveries of its COVID-19 vaccine to the bloc by 60%, to 31 million doses in the first quarter of the year, due to production problems, said a senior official told Reuters.
The company is expected to deliver about 80 million doses to the 27 EU countries by the end of March, said the official who was involved in the negotiations.
The company also agreed to deliver more than 80 million doses in the second quarter, but on Friday was unable to set delivery targets for the April to June period due to production problems, the official said.
The company said the cut was due to production problems at a vaccine factory in Belgium run by its partner Novasep, the official said. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio Editing by Chris Reese)