EU Will Not Extend AstraZeneca, J&J Vaccine Contracts - La Stampa

Italy's La Stampa reporting that the EU will allow its contracts for COVID-19 vaccines with both AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson to expire once the orders have been fulfilled.

• The EU's rollout of the AZ jab has been beset by political rancour over supply of the vaccine from the UK, misleading statements from national leaders regarding its efficacy, and repeated pauses to the rollout due to extremely rare side effects.
• J&J has not even begun to roll out its vaccine in Europe, but instead stated yesterday it would stop shipments until a similar issue was raised to the AZ vaccine regarding extremely rare blood clots saw a pause to inoculations in the US.
• La Stampa reports the EU wants to focus on vaccines using mRNA technology - such as those from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna - rather than the viral vector vaccines developed by AZ and J&J.
• The likely impact of this decision could see costs for the EU spiral further. The mRNA vaccines are far more expensive than the viral vector vaccines, and both Moderna and Pfizer are costing their vaccines to make a profit, compared to AZ which is selling its vaccines without a profit.