BRUSSELS – The European Union's chief executive criticized Anglo-Swedish vaccine-maker AstraZeneca on Wednesday, accusing the embattled pharmaceutical company of delaying Europe's coronavirus vaccination campaign and warning that the EU is weighing export bans to ensure supplies. “AstraZeneca has unfortunately under-produced and under-delivered, and this painfully, of course, reduced the speed of the vaccination campaign,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters.
Von der Leyen said the company originally pledged to deliver 90 million doses of its shot in the first three months of 2021, but later said it could only provide 40 million, then more recently only 30 million.