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On the 25th (local time), the executive committee, a member of the European Union (EU) administration, sent a warning message saying that the explanation of the delay in supply of vaccines for the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) of multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca was insufficient.
According to AFP and Reuters, health executive Stella Kyriachides, after meeting with AstraZeneca officials, cannot accept the company’s announcement of the delay in supply of vaccines. Said.
He did not say what measures to take, but he introduced that it has proposed a “transparency system” to member countries that allows pharmaceutical companies that produce Corona 19 vaccines in the EU to notify them in advance when exporting vaccines to third countries.
“We want the process to be clear and completely transparent when it comes to vaccine exports from the EU,” he said.
The EU’s move came after AstraZeneca announced on the 22nd that it would reduce its initial European supply due to production disruptions.
Pfizer, a US pharmaceutical company, also announced that it will temporarily slow the supply of vaccines to Europe as it changes its manufacturing process to increase vaccine production.
Pfizer and AstraZeneca have vaccine production facilities in Belgium.
The EU approved the use of the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer with German Bioentech and began vaccination at the end of last month.
However, EU member states are voicing concerns and dissatisfaction, saying that the initial supply of vaccines is not meeting their expectations.
The Corona 19 vaccine jointly developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University in the UK is currently being reviewed for conditional marketing approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and the results are expected on the 29th.
The EU has previously signed a vaccine supply contract with Pfizer-Bioentech and AstraZeneca, as well as with US pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson, French pharmaceutical companies Sanofi, UK GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), US Modena, and German CureVac. .
The EU Commission also recommended that member states tighten travel restrictions to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 mutant virus.
The EU Commission proposed measures such as refraining from travel for non-essential purposes, requiring all travelers to EU member states to undergo pre-gene amplification (PCR) testing, while quarantining those coming from areas where the mutant virus has spread.
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