Factory at heart of row has already supplied us

THE row over exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the UK centres on a factory in Holland.

An EU source has stated that any vaccine production by the firm Halix in the Dutch city of Leiden ‘has to go to the EU’.

But it emerged yesterday that the factory has already sent a batch of jabs to Britain.

Mene Pangalos, a research and development chief at AstraZeneca, told a media briefing that Halix had sent vaccine to Britain, but it is yet to be approved for use by the UK’s regulator.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approves vaccine batches after ensuring quality and safety.

Vaccines from the Dutch factory are also awaiting approval from the EU drug regulator.

Halix provides drugs for the

AstraZeneca vaccine, which is put into vials in Italy before being distributed for use.

The European supply is at risk from the threat of an EU export ban to the UK, which could set back Britain’s rollout of vaccines by up to two months. An EU official said at the weekend the bloc will not accept British Government requests for the vaccine made by Halix in Leiden.

The source told Reuters: ‘The Brits are insisting that the Halix plant in the Netherlands must deliver the drug substance produced there to them. That doesn’t work. What is produced in Halix has to go to the EU.’

However, Mr Pangalos said yesterday: ‘There was one batch that’s come from Halix to the UK that hasn’t been approved yet.’

Ruud Dobber, of the AstraZeneca business unit, said it expects the EU regulator to give approval for the Leiden factory by early next month.

AstraZeneca insists that its production sites in the US and Belgium are more important than the Dutch base.

Mr Dobber stressed: ‘We have a global supply network...we are hoping that we can have free goods moving from one place to another place.’

Halix was founded in 2012 and also supplies products for cancer and flu treatment.

‘Waiting for UK approval’