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(Alliance News) - Half of the pharma giant AstraZeneca PLC's vaccine shipments to the EU will be delayed this week, a company spokesman told AFP Friday.
"We communicated to the European Commission and member states last week that one of the two batches for delivery this week would require testing and will be delivered soon," the spokesman said.
Hong Kong on Friday confirmed it has requested Astra suspend delivery of its Covid-19 vaccine amid fears of severe side effects and concerns over its efficacy against new variants of the coronavirus.
Europe's medicines regulator said this week the Astra vaccine could cause very rare blood clots in some recipients, prompting a cascade of countries to pull the plug on giving it to people under a certain age.
Britain sought Thursday to quell fears over the jab, saying the potential side effects were extremely rare – and the risk of falling seriously sick from Covid-19 was far greater.
On Friday Hong Kong's health chief Sophia Chan said the city has asked AstraZeneca not to deliver as planned later this year.
"We think it is not necessary for AstraZeneca to deliver the vaccines to the city within this year," she said, adding Hong Kong wanted "to avoid any waste as vaccines are in short supply globally".
Wealthy Hong Kong has already secured a good supply of vaccines for its 7.5 million residents.
It has signed deals for 7.5 million shots each with BioNTech SE-Pfizer Inc and China's Sinovac, both of which have begun deliveries.
Chan said Hong Kong was also keen to look at other vaccines that may have stronger results against newer strains of the coronavirus.
Astra closed 0.6% higher in London on Friday at 7,287.00 pence each.
source: AFP
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