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* AstraZeneca again scales back deliveries to EU
* Brussels demands more effort from firm
* Germany talks to US about missing shipments
* Thailand follows European countries in suspending AZ shot
* WHO and EU regulator say safety fears are unfounded
By Francesco Guarascio
BRUSSELS, March 12 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca has again angered
the EU by scaling back deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines, but got
a boost on Friday when the World Health Organisation dismissed
fears that have prompted countries in Europe and Asia to suspend
use of the shot.
The European Union has been much slower to start mass
vaccination than neighbouring Britain because of a slower
approval and purchasing process and repeated supply hold-ups.
EU regulators have dismissed scattered reports of blood
clots in people who had received the AstraZeneca vaccine, but on
Friday Thailand joined a handful of European countries in
suspending use of the shot - the first and cheapest to be
developed and launched at volume around the world.
An AstraZeneca document dated March 10, seen by Reuters and
shared with EU officials, shows that the Anglo-Swedish drug
maker expects to have delivered 30 million doses to the EU by
the end of March - 10 million less than it pledged only last
month, and only a third of its contractual obligation.
A company spokesman declined to comment, but a person
familiar with the situation said there had been difficulties
with international supply chains.
Industry executives have warned of manufacturing problems as
countries try to protect their own supplies of vaccines,
ingredients and the equipment to make, bottle and transport
them.
Washington has told Brussels that it will not allow
AstraZeneca shots made in the United States to be exported in
the near future, Reuters reported on Thursday.
And last week Italy and Brussels blocked a shipment of
AstraZeneca vaccines from Italy to Australia, in the first
application of a mechanism that allows the EU to refuse export
requests from vaccine makers that break EU supply contracts.
The company has acknowledged production problems in the EU,
but also said it expected to ship some output to the EU from the
United States.
Its contract pledges "best reasonable efforts" to meet a
target of 300 million doses for the EU by the end of June.
"NOT GOOD ENOUGH"
Brussels is increasingly frustrated.
"I see efforts, but not 'best efforts'. That's not good
enough yet," EU industry commissioner Thierry Breton tweeted on
Thursday.
Germany said it was talking to Washington about missing
shipments of COVID-19 vaccines from the United States, noting
that more than 30 countries including the United States were
receiving vaccines made in the EU.
The EU programme has also been upset in the last two weeks
by the reports of blood clots.
On Thursday, Denmark and non-EU members Norway and Iceland
suspended their use of the vaccine. Austria and Italy have
stopped using specific batches.
But on Friday the WHO said the vaccine was "excellent" and
that no causal link had been established to the blood clots.
"It's very important to understand that, yes, we should
continue to be using the AstraZeneca vaccine," spokeswoman
Margaret Harris told a briefing. "All that we look at is what we
always look at: Any safety signal must be investigated."
AstraZeneca said on Thursday it had found no evidence of
increased risk of deep vein thrombosis in more than 10 million
recipient records.
And the EU regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA),
said on Wednesday that the number of clots reported in people
who had received the AstraZeneca vaccine was no higher than in
the general population.
Bulgaria said it would suspend use of the vaccine until it
saw written guidance from the EMA, but German Health Minister
Jens Spahn told reporters on Friday that his country was
following the EMA guidance.
"Everything we know so far suggests that the benefits of the
vaccine, even after every individual case reported, are greater
than the risks, and that continues to be the case," he said.
Germany, the most populous country in the EU, is due to
receive about 6 million doses from AstraZeneca by the end of
April, the document seen by Reuters shows, with France getting
4.7 million and Italy 4.4 million.
"We are still in a phase of absolute scarcity," Spahn said.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio in Brussels,
Thomas Escritt in Berlin and Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia; Writing
by Kevin Liffey;
Editing by Gareth Jones)
