BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The EU is in talks with Moderna over the purchase of several COVID-19 vaccines, and AstraZeneca, which has stalled talks, has suggested delivering its own vaccine doses made outside Europe to offset supply cuts, two EU sources said. .
The European Union has set a target of vaccinating 70% of its adult population by the end of the summer, but has struggled to deliver the doses promised by pharmaceutical companies.
It is now trying to expand its stockpile of vaccines, which already amounts to almost 2.3 billion doses from six drug manufacturers for its population of about 450 million.
The EU is negotiating a new supply agreement with Moderna that could almost double the volume of vaccine doses from the US biotechnology company, two senior EU officials involved in the talks told Reuters.
They asked for anonymity because the discussions were confidential.
Under the negotiation, the EU would provide an additional 150 million doses from Moderna, more than 160 million of which have already been booked and launched last month.
One of the two officials said that some of the doses provided for in the new agreement could be delivered by June.
The second was more cautious, pointing to the difficulties Moderna faced in delivering just 10 million doses to the EU in the first quarter of 2021.
However, the volume of photos available could be increased if the number of doses that can be extracted from each Modern ampoule is increased.
Moderna declined to comment on talks with the EU. But he said he was in talks with regulators in various countries about raising the number of doses in vials to 15 out of 10.
The Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The EU is also close to finalizing talks with Novavax for 200 million doses, one official said, confirming a Reuters report last week.
“BUILT ON SAND”
On Friday, Brussels officials and AstraZeneca executives discussed the reduction in deliveries announced by the Anglo-Swedish doctor last month, when he told the EU that he had reduced his supply targets for the block due to a production problem.
This would have reduced deliveries to 31 million doses by March instead of the at least 80 million initially agreed.
Under pressure, AstraZeneca, which developed its vaccine with Oxford University, later offered to raise the supply to 40 million for the first quarter.
The EU and AstraZeneca are now holding weekly meetings to find ways to quickly boost production, the two sources said.
AstraZeneca executives told EU officials on Friday that in order to speed up supply to the bloc, it could offer it some doses manufactured outside Europe, the two sources said. One said the Serum Institute of India (SII) could be the supplier.
The UK drug regulator is also auditing manufacturing processes at the SII plant, a move that could pave the way for AstraZeneca to be transported from there to the UK and other countries, two sources said.
IBS is the main provider of vaccines to poorer countries in a system run by the World Health Organization. It is unclear whether these supplies could be affected by possible deliveries to richer countries.
AstraZeneca also mentioned a US production unit as a possible supplier to the EU, but did not indicate volumes or delivery schedule, one source said.
AstraZeneca and SII were not immediately available for comment.
Both EU sources said the company’s new offerings were unclear. A source said it is still unclear whether AstraZeneca could deliver the 40 million guaranteed doses in the first three months of 2021 and that there were only vague commitments for the second quarter.
“Everything is built on sand,” the official said.
EU officials said the US vaccine plant that AstraZeneca mentioned was in Baltimore, but did not give further details.
In the transactions announced last year, the Catalent plant in Maryland will produce the drug substance used in the AstraZeneca vaccine, and Emergent BioSolutions Inc will take photos at its Baltimore facility.
Deliveries from factories outside the EU should be authorized by the EU drug regulator, EU officials said.
The EU said two factories producing the AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK should supply the EU under its contract with the company. AstraZeneca said the British government prevented the export of the vaccine, citing its own supply contract.
The British government has refused to say whether its contract with AstraZeneca gives priority to British supplies.
Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio in Brussels, Elvira Pollina in Milan; additional reporting by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt, Euan Rocha in Mumbai; edited by Josephine Mason and Timothy Heritage