AstraZeneca – Covid19 shots produced in Latin America will be delayed
AstraZeneca has confirmed setbacks to production of its COVID-19 vaccines in Latin America, excluding Brazil, but said it will still meet a commitment to deliver 150 million doses to the region this year.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said in a statement shared with Reuters on Friday that lower-than-expected production, shortages of critical supplies and longer periods for regulatory approval had slowed the process.
Under a deal reached last year, the mAbxience laboratory in Argentina manufactures the active ingredient of the vaccine and ships it for bottling to a factory in Mexico owned by a company called Liomont.
Argentina has delivered cargos of the active ingredient to Mexico, but a series of regulatory approvals and reviews have delayed Liomont’s commercial production from an original target of March. AstraZeneca said deliveries of the shots would now begin before the end of June.
