• About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Write for us
  • Contact
  • Terms of service
Thursday, June 30, 2022
The Millennial Source
TMS
Home WORLD

As India hopes for shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the EU joins the US in abandoning it

byJoseph Lyttleton
May 12, 2021
in WORLD
As India hopes for shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the EU joins the US in abandoning it

Source: Francis Mascarenhas, Reuters

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin
The company’s failure to meet its contractual obligations has been blamed for the EU’s struggle to meet its vaccination goals.

  • On Sunday, May 9, the European Union stated it had not renewed its contract with AstraZeneca for more COVID-19 vaccines.
  • Reports suggest that the United States has 60 million doses of the vaccine, but doesn’t currently have any plans of using them.
  • Issues with the production of the vaccine and concerns over some of the serious side effects that have been reported have caused AstraZeneca’s reputation in many western countries to plummet.
  • But there are plenty of other countries that would be happy to have those doses.
  • Among them is India, which is continuing to see extremely high numbers of new COVID-19 cases each day due to both a vaccine shortage and problems with their vaccine rollout.

Why did the EU break with AstraZeneca?

  • The EU and AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical company, have been butting heads for a few weeks now.
  • In April, the EU sued the pharmaceutical company, alleging that AstraZeneca was failing to meet its delivery deadlines.
  • Since AstraZeneca didn’t deliver the number of doses it promised, it’s been blamed for the EU’s failure to meet its vaccination goals.
  • In the original contract, AstraZeneca promised to deliver 300 million doses to the EU by the end of June. Now the company is saying it will be 100 million.
  • With the legal fight continuing, European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton announced that the EU would not sign a new contract with AstraZeneca once its current contract ends in June.
  • Instead, the EU signed a deal with another vaccine company, Pfizer-BioNTech, to secure 1.8 billion doses through 2023.

The US is looking at what to do with its AstraZeneca doses

  • As of now, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved the use of AstraZeneca, even though the US is apparently sitting on a stockpile of 60 million doses.
  • But the US hasn’t needed to use the AstraZeneca vaccine, because it’s been surpassing its vaccination targets with the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
  • With the US not using the vaccines, the Biden administration has been looking at ways of sharing the vaccine with other countries that are in need.
  • In late April, it was reported that the administration was hoping to ship out 10 million doses of its 60 million stockpile.
  • But so far there have been no reports that any vaccines have been shipped.
  • One of the main countries hoping to get those doses is India, which has been averaging around 400,000 new COVID-19 cases every day in May.

Who developed the AstraZeneca vaccine?

  • The AstraZeneca vaccine, also often called the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, was developed as a collaboration between AstraZeneca and Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
  • Though AstraZeneca was approved for use by the EU in January 2021, that approval only came after a troubled development.
  • Back in September 2020, its vaccine trial had to be halted in the third phase after a participant in the study was thought to have had a serious adverse response.
  • The halt only lasted a few days, but it resulted in days of bad headlines for the company.
  • In early April of this year, a clinical trial of the AstraZeneca vaccine had to again be stopped.
  • The trial, which was studying the vaccine’s effects on young children and teenagers, was halted after the vaccine was linked to blood clots in some recipients.
  • Though the number of people who developed clots after getting the vaccine was relatively low, the concern was enough for Denmark to discontinue use of the vaccine.
  • (The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson has also been linked to blood clots, but, like the AstraZeneca vaccine, the number of incidents is relatively small.)

Have a tip or story? Get in touch with our reporters at [email protected]

Like TMS? Subscribe to our free daily newsletter

Related

Tags: AsiaEuropeLonger readNorth America
ShareTweetShare

Latest Posts

period tracking apps

Why people in the US are deleting – and downloading – period tracking apps

June 30, 2022
Spotify R. Kelly

Spotify removed R. Kelly’s music in 2018, but then put it back up. What happens now that he’s a convicted sex offender?

June 30, 2022
Juul banned

The US orders Juul vapes off the market. Here’s what you need to know

June 24, 2022

US Senate agrees to fast-track new gun law

June 23, 2022

The fourth day of the January 6 hearings show Trump’s pressure campaign on election officials

June 22, 2022

Forever 21 gives China another go with a new store opening this month

June 16, 2022

Following better-than-expected economic data, China stocks rally

June 16, 2022

Senator Ron Wyden proposes a tax increase on price-gouging oil companies

June 15, 2022

Some key takeaways from the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore

June 13, 2022

SUBSCRIBE TO THE TMS NEWSLETTER

By providing your email, you agree to our Privacy Policy

The Millennial Source Ltd. 2021

No Result
View All Result
  • Your daily briefing
  • About us
  • Explore
    • Startups
    • Climate change
    • Tech giants
    • Crypto
    • The future of work
    • Banking giants
    • Economy
  • Lifestyle
  • Human stories
  • TMS archives
  • Write for us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy & Terms

2022 The Millennial Source Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

string(24) "jsonld single post debug"
The Millennial Source
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.