MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2021) Representatives from AstraZeneca have told European Union officials to expect delays in the delivery of vaccines against COVID-19, Stella Kyriakides, the European commissioner for health and food safety, said Friday.
"During today's Steering Committee with Member States on the #EUVaccinesStrategy, @AstraZeneca representatives announced delays in the delivery of vaccines compared to the forecast for the first quarter of this year," Kyriakides wrote on Twitter.
EU officials expressed their dissatisfaction to hear of the delays and insisted that AstraZeneca take measures to increase the stability and predictability of deliveries, Kyriakides added.
Earlier in the day, an AstraZeneca representative was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that there had been no delays to deliveries, although "initial volumes" would be lower due to reduced yields at the company's EU-based production sites.
The European Union has an agreement with AstraZeneca for up to 400 million doses of its vaccine, which was developed in conjunction with the University of Oxford.
