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AstraZeneca PLC expects to deliver tens of millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccine less than planned to the European Union in the coming months, people familiar with the matter say, threatening continent’s plans to increase vaccinations and to deal a further blow to the reputation of the drug manufacturer.
AstraZeneca revealed the shortfall on Friday after briefing EU officials earlier today. He blamed a manufacturing problem in Europe, but did not disclose the size of the deficit.
According to people familiar with the matter, the company told EU officials that in a worst-case scenario, AstraZeneca may only be able to deliver around 30 million of the roughly 80 million doses that EU countries had anticipated for February and March. , a decrease of about 60% compared to the company’s previous estimates. AstraZeneca is working to dramatically reduce this potential shortfall and says the roughly 30 million doses are the minimum it should be able to deliver, the people said.
The root cause of the problem is a manufacturing facility in Belgium owned by Novasep Holding SAS which has not been able to manufacture as many vaccines in bulk as expected, people said. The so-called efficiency of the facility, or the amount of vaccine it can make from basic ingredients, is about a third of AstraZeneca’s expectations, one of the people said. Novasep did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday.
Vaccine yields can vary widely depending on the “seeding” steps, taken over several weeks, to grow the cells needed to make the vaccine and the subsequent processes to filter and purify the substance before it is packaged. in vials. AstraZeneca has seen variable returns among its many manufacturing partners and has worked to boost production where it lags, the person said. The process takes a lot of work and time. Reuters first reported the number of doses AstraZeneca may no longer be able to deliver.
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