Moving the needle

23 March 2021 By Aimee Donnellan Follow @aimeedonnellan

Brussels may block shipments of Covid-19 jabs to Britain amid a spat with AstraZeneca. Its ultimate threat would be to limit supplies of other remedies too, such as Pfizer’s. Even if the worst outcome is avoided, the result will be less efficient supply chains and costlier drugs.

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The European Commission is rebuffing British government calls for it to honour planned shipments of a Covid-19 vaccine produced in a factory in the Netherlands to the UK, a commission official said on March 21.

The European Commission threatened on March 17 to block exports of Covid-19 vaccines to Britain to safeguard scarce doses for its own citizens, with President Ursula von der Leyen saying the epidemiological situation was worsening.

The Leiden-based plant, which is run by sub-contractor Halix, is listed as a supplier of vaccines in both the contracts that AstraZeneca has signed with Britain and with the European Union.

Former EU member Britain has so far administered many more vaccines than EU countries in proportion to the population. Britain has administered 44.7 doses per 100 people while the European Union has only administered 12.7 doses per 100 people.

AstraZeneca may have provided an incomplete view of efficacy data on its Covid-19 vaccine from a trial in the United States, the country’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on March 23.

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The Leiden-based plant, which is run by sub-contractor Halix, is listed as a supplier of vaccines in both the contracts that AstraZeneca has signed with Britain and with the European Union.

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