Good news and a sign of abating… After squabbles between laboratory AstraZeneca and the European Union on the vaccine delivery issue, that will ultimately be less significant than planned by the agreement signed by both parties, the pharmaceutical group yet intended to relieve tensions promising to deliver 30% of extra Covid vaccine doses – totaling 40 million doses – instead of the 31 million doses announced. The news broke out on Sunday January 31 by European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen.
AstraZeneca “will start deliveries one week earlier than scheduled. The company will also expand its manufacturing capacity in Europe” the Commission president wrote on Twitter. Deliveries that are set to start “from the second week of February, it seems” a source within the European Parliament said. For the record, AstraZeneca announced they will reduce deliveries of their vaccine to the European Union by 75% because of “reduced yields at a manufacturing site within [a] European supply chain” which has not pleased Brussels.
This Sunday, Von der Leyen also said they will keep the goal of vaccinating 70% of the people within the European Union by the end of summer and vaccinate 80% of the health workforce and people aged 80+ by the end of March. Anyway, this is good news and another step to put an end to the pandemic.
