A pharmacist, Minhal Master (R) administers a dose of the AstraZeneca / Oxford Covid-19 vaccine at a temporary vaccination center, composed of pharmacists and pharmaceutical assistants, at the Al-Abbas Islamic Center in Birmingham, West Midlands on February 4, 2021.
Oli Scarff | AFP | Getty Images
The European Union will urge the United States to allow the export of millions of doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as it strives to make up for the shortage of supply, the Financial Times reported.
The EU of 27 countries also wants Washington to guarantee the free flow of shipments of vaccine ingredients essential for European production, the FT report said on Saturday.
“We trust that we can work together with the United States to ensure that vaccines produced or bottled in the United States to fulfill vaccine producers’ contractual obligations to the EU will be fully honored,” said FT, quoting the European Commission.
EU countries started vaccinating in late December, but are moving at a much slower pace than other wealthy countries, including former member Britain and the United States.
The authorities attribute the slow progress in part to supply problems with manufacturers.
The European Commission and Italy this week blocked a shipment of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine to Australia after the drug’s manufacturer failed to fulfill its contractual commitments with the EU.
The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company has been criticized in the EU for the delay in supplying vaccines to the 27-country bloc, which has ordered 300 million doses by the end of June.
“We are working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to improve delivery and look forward to meeting expectations for the second quarter,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told EU lawmakers at a public hearing in February.
The EU is also planning to extend its export authorization scheme for Covid-19 vaccines until the end of June, two EU sources told Reuters on Thursday.
According to the scheme, companies must obtain authorization before exporting Covid-19 shots and may be denied export requests if they do not respect their EU supply commitments.
The European Commission and AstraZeneca were not immediately available for comment.