AstraZeneca PLC will deliver 9 million additional vaccine doses to the European Union in the first quarter of this year as the bloc tries to get its chaotic inoculation drive on track.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Sunday on Twitter that the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker would start deliveries one week earlier than scheduled and expand its manufacturing. In fact, the company said last week that it would provide a million shy of that amount. Either way, that brings the total to 40 million, only about half of what the EU had expected from Astra through March.
AstraZeneca triggered a crisis Jan. 22 when it said that problems at a plant in Belgium meant deliveries to the EU this quarter would be significantly curtailed. As a result, the bloc, which came under fire due to the slow rollout of national vaccination programs, said it would begin restricting the export of vaccines if drugmakers fail to meet delivery targets.