Vulcan Insight

MEPs question vaccine manufacturers over distribution delays

26 February 2021

As EU leaders began their deliberations on the way forward in the Covid pandemic, the various CEOs and representatives of the leading vaccine manufacturers faced questions from MEPs in a virtual hearing last Thursday. Among the companies represented were AstraZeneca, Moderna, Curevac, Pfizer, Novavax and Sanofi. The French Chairman of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) that hosted the session, Pascal Confin, emphasised the importance of this moment as he stated that “this was a world first: CEOs of the main vaccine manufacturers appearing before elected representatives.” 

The purpose of the hearing was to find out to what extent pharmaceutical companies could ramp up COVID-19 vaccine production and improve distribution. The MEPs urged the companies to honour their contracts with the EU. As the pharmaceutical industry has been heavily criticised for the supply shortage of vaccines, CEOs and representatives tried to look reassuring and score points during the hearing.

Soriot, however, whose company AstraZeneca has recently been under pressure for not honouring its contract with the EU, made a rather helpless impression.  He was asked, amongst other things, why the EU had not received the agreed quantities of vaccine and why AstraZeneca had supplied the UK first, even though the deal had been struck simultaneously, or whether the UK had negotiated exclusivity for the vaccines with AstraZeneca. Former Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło of the PiS party even asked him directly, “Why is no vaccine coming? Why don’t we see comprehensible delivery schedules? Don’t you actually know that everyday counts?” 

Soriot evaded these questions, saying that his company is still in the learning phase and that many parameters influence the highly complex production process. He also justified the delays by reminding MEPs of the situation’s exceptional nature and explaining that his company’s supply network was regionally based. Soriot said little about the controversial supply contract. Despite his justifications and reminder that AstraZeneca is the only manufacturer producing the vaccine without profit intention, he could not reverse the trend. Because of his evasiveness and contradictory statements, Soriot was even accused by the Finnish MEP Silvia Modig of being a “piece of soap.”

Other companies with an approved vaccine and which are in the production phase were more convincing. The head of Moderna, Stephane Bancel, proudly reported that after initial difficulties, his company brought a vaccine to market in just one year and that it has a fully functioning supply chain in Europe. Biontech and Pfizer, which were also initially behind schedule, also announced that their production and distribution would now be up and running. 

Representatives of vaccine manufacturers still awaiting approval, such as Johnson & Johnson and Curevac, were quite optimistic, saying they could begin production immediately after receiving the green light from the EU. The approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is likely by mid-March. Curevac hopes to get it by early June.

Industry and delegates also exchanged views and welcomed the “Hera Incubator” platform initiated by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. This initiative is intended to facilitate cooperation between industry, research, and public authorities to further improve vaccine production capacities.

Overall, the hearing brought more clarity about the capacities of the vaccine manufacturers. After all the criticism on the EU procurement policy and the supply bottlenecks, billions of vaccines should be available to the EU states if everything goes according to plan.  Realistically, however, a massive EU-wide vaccination campaign will not be possible until this summer.