EU won't renew AstraZeneca, J&J vaccine contracts, claims Italian news

The European Commission has decided that it will not renew Covid-19 vaccine contracts with AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson next year, according to Italian daily La Stampa, citing a Health Ministry source.

"The European Commission, in agreement with the leaders of many [EU] countries, has decided that the contracts with the companies that produce [viral vector] vaccines that are valid for the current year will not be renewed at their expiry," the paper said.

The article went on to say that Brussels was choosing to focus on Covid-19 vaccines that used messenger RNA (mRNA), such as the Pfizer and Moderna jabs.

The Commission is still seeking further clarification from Johnson & Johnson about the "completely unexpected" delays in vaccine deliveries to the bloc, Reuters reported an unnamed official as saying earlier this week.

On Tuesday, the company announced delays to the vaccine rollout in Europe in the wake of a US investigation following reports of blood clots. The announcement came after the US regulators recommended a "pause" in the use of the single-dose jab to investigate the reports.

"The safety and well-being of the people who use our products is our number one priority. We are aware of an extremely rare disorder involving people with blood clots in combination with low platelets in a small number of individuals who have received our COVID-19 vaccine," the pharmaceuticals major said in a statement.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the CDC and FDA have recommended a pause in the use of our vaccine," it added.

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