The head of Europe's drugs regulator said AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine was in the final stage of assessment and that the agency hoped to issue a conclusion "by the end of the week."  

But arguments between European lawmakers and AstraZeneca have spilled out into the public sphere this week, as allegations of improper exports of the vaccine were made by officials. 

Speaking to an EU parliamentary committee on Tuesday, the executive director of the European Medicines Agency, Emer Cooke, addressed concerns from European lawmakers about the delay of the vaccine. But, ultimately, the agency is very limited in what it can do.  
"The sort of things we can do in the context of production is to work with the companies and the member states to make sure that new manufacturing sites get available as soon as possible," said Cooke. 

If granted conditional authorization, the AstraZeneca jab would be the third COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in the EU, after the Pfizer-BioNTech shot was approved in December and the Moderna one in January.  

But how widely the AstraZeneca vaccine will be distributed is at the core of a raging row in Europe, after the UK-Swedish pharmaceutical company shocked the EU on Friday, saying first-quarter deliveries would fall far short of what was promised.  

The European Commission, which spearheaded the bloc's vaccine procurement process, has not confirmed the extent of the shortfall, but Reuters reported that 60 percent fewer doses will be available.

An EU official told CGTN Europe a "red flag" was noticed in December, but the full extent of the AstraZeneca shortfall became clear on Friday. 

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Export controls

European member states, many of which are battling a seemingly endless wave of new infections, are furious about the AstraZeneca delays. 

EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said two rounds of intense talks between the EU and the pharma giant resulted in "dissatisfaction with the lack of clarity and insufficient explanations." It is expected a third call will take place on Wednesday evening. 

AstraZeneca has blamed the delay on difficulties in its supply chain. But there is growing speculation that the firm may have shipped doses manufactured in Belgium to other customers. Brussels has demanded to know exactly what doses have been manufactured in Europe and where they have gone.  

The EU official who spoke to CGTN said the EU believes its contract entitles it to vaccines produced in the UK, but that is disputed by the pharma giant. 

The European Commission has also proposed the introduction of an "export transparency mechanism," which would require early notification if a vaccine producer in Europe wanted to ship doses abroad. 

"AstraZeneca need to deliver on committees in agreement. We are in a pandemic. We lose people every day. These are not numbers, statistics, these are people with family and friends," Commissioner Kyriakdes added.  

In a statement to CGTN Europe, Pfizer said it understood the EU was aiming to increase transparency and does not intend to restrict global supply to patients, but added: "It is critical that governments do not impose export restrictions or other trade barriers that risk creating uncertainty and disrupting supply of vaccine to patients around the world." 

More details on how the export control mechanism would work are expected later this week, but it's already causing friction with EU neighbors.   

The UK's vaccine minister warned of "the dead-end of vaccine nationalism."

"The customs data do not lie... we can see vaccines were shipped to many countries," a European official told CGTN Europe. 

Video editor: Francois Lamy