AstraZeneca said Tuesday its EU supply chains would only be
able to deliver half of an expected supply of Covid-19 vaccines to the bloc in
the second quarter -- but that it would look to make up the shortfall from
elsewhere.
"The vaccine manufacturers are our partners in this
pandemic and they have also never faced such a challenge," she told the
German regional daily Augsburger Allgemeine.
"New questions are always arising that we can generally
resolve amicably," she said on the eve of a virtual EU summit on the
response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Von der Leyen added that she advocated "working
together with the companies to ensure global production is improved".
Meanwhile, reports have said AstraZeneca was "working
to increase productivity in its EU supply chain" and would use its
"global capability in order to achieve delivery of 180 million doses to
the EU in the second quarter".
Approximately half of the expected volume is due to come
from the EU supply chain while the remainder would come from its international
supply network.
The announcement follows controversy over deliveries of the
AstraZeneca-Oxford University jab to the European Union in the first quarter,
which has caused tension between the bloc and the pharmaceutical company.
The UK government has vaccinated millions of Britons with
the AstraZeneca jab since late last year. But the company only began shipping
it to the EU in early February, after the bloc's drug regulator took its time
over recommending its use.
Ahead of the EU's approval of the vaccine at the end of
January, the company sparked fury among European leaders by announcing that it
would miss its target of supplying the EU with 400 million doses, due to a
shortfall at the firm's European plants.
The disagreement also caused diplomatic tensions with
Britain, which definitively left the EU after 40 years of membership following
a transmission period at the end of 2020 -- with Brussels implicitly accusing
AstraZeneca of giving preferential treatment to Britain at the expense of the
EU.