By Francesco Guarascio
BRUSSELS, May 17 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson has
cut by half expected deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines to the
European Union this week, an EU official told Reuters on Monday,
compounding supply problems the company has faced since it began
shipping doses to the bloc in April.
Under its contract with the EU, J&J has committed to
shipping 55 million doses of its one-shot vaccine in the second
quarter. But midway through the quarter, it had delivered less
than 5 million doses, less than 10% of its target.
In addition to these initial delays, the drugmaker "is
cutting deliveries this week by half," one EU official involved
in talks with vaccine makers said, adding that it is not clear
how many doses will be delivered next week. The official did not
say how many doses were expected this week.
J&J did not reply to a request for comment.
"We understand there is only a limited temporary reduction
of deliveries which is expected to be caught up at a later
stage," a spokesman for the European Commission said, declining
to say how many doses short this week's delivery will be.
Both the EU source and the spokesman said the company was
still aiming to deliver the contracted 55 million doses by the
end of June.
J&J has faced production problems in the United States. The
EU official said doses meant for the EU were produced both in
the United States and in a factory in Leiden, in the
Netherlands.
The official said J&J had not yet provided a clear schedule
for its deliveries through the end of the second quarter.
The company had initially planned to begin delivering doses
to the EU from April 1, but delayed the start of shipments to
mid-April over production issues.
Deliveries were then interrupted just as they began over
safety concerns, after use of the vaccine was temporarily paused
in the United States to assess possible links with rare but
serious blood clots. Deliveries resumed in Europe about a week
later.
As of Monday, the company has delivered 2.6 million doses to
European countries, data from the European Centre for Disease
Prevention and Control (ECDC) show.
The European Commission, which has more up to date
information on deliveries, confirmed that supplies have so far
been below 5 million doses.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio
Editing by Bill Berkrot)