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