AstraZeneca seeks to extend delivery timeline

[reader]

From Bangkok Post

AstraZeneca has asked Thailand to extend the timeline for the delivery of 61 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine by five months, a deputy minister said on Thursday, a move likely to disrupt further the country's sluggish vaccine rollout.

Deputy Health Minister Sathit Pitutacha said AstraZeneca currently had the capacity to produce 15 million doses of vaccine per month at its production facility in Nonthaburi and that capacity could expand in the future.

The company has promised to deliver 40% of what is produced there inside the country, the deputy health minister said, adding that the government will ask the company for more doses.

"We must negotiate with them because in this situation we need more vaccine," Mr Sathit said.

"We want 10 million doses because the original plan was 10 million doses," he said referring to the previous monthly delivery target.

A day earlier, the government said it was considering imposing limits on exports of locally manufactured AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to fight its own outbreak.

The country is suffering its worst outbreak yet and reported a record 98 coronavirus deaths on Thursday, taking total fatalities to 3,032 since the pandemic began last year.

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration also reported 9,186 new coronavirus cases, bringing total infections to 372,215.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2149195/astrazeneca-seeks-to-extend-delivery-timeline-for-61m-vaccine-doses

=================================

From PBS World / Thaiger

Thailand to purchase another 120 million vaccine doses for next year

Thailand’s National Vaccine Committee has approved the purchase of an additional 120 million vaccine doses for 2022. However, it has yet to approve a draft announcement on the export of AstraZeneca doses manufactured in Thailand, due to concerns over insufficient doses for Thai citizens.

Thai PBS World reports that Nakorn Premsri from the National Vaccine Institute says the extra 120 million doses are earmarked for those who have yet to receive a dose, as well as those in need of booster shots. The plan is also to keep some doses in reserve, in the event of a further outbreak. He adds that the NVI will also work with the Department of Disease Control to purchase up to 100 million vaccine doses, as new daily infections approach the 10,000 figure.

It’s understood the NVC wants officials from the DCD and NVI to meet with AstraZeneca and its local supplier to make changes to the number of doses planned for export, as well as those reserved for local use. Thai PBS World reports that such a move will mean amending the agreement between the government and Siam Bioscience, the local manufacturer. Siam Bioscience is expected to produce 180 million doses of AstraZeneca this year, with Thailand currently set to receive a third of those.

Meanwhile, government spokesman Anucha Burapachai says the plan is still to combine vaccines from different manufacturers, in an effort to combat the highly contagious Delta variant. However, there has been no confirmation of when the policy might come into play. The proposal has prompted concerns among the Thai public, following a warning from the World Health Organisation regarding what it describes as the “dangerous trend” of combining vaccines when there is insufficient safety and efficacy data.

https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/thailand-to-purchase-another-120-million-vaccine-doses-for-next-year

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, reader said:

From Bangkok Post

AstraZeneca has asked Thailand to extend the timeline for the delivery of 61 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine by five months, a deputy minister said on Thursday, a move likely to disrupt further the country's sluggish vaccine rollout.

Deputy Health Minister Sathit Pitutacha said AstraZeneca currently had the capacity to produce 15 million doses of vaccine per month at its production facility in Nonthaburi and that capacity could expand in the future.

Again the deputy minister avoids associating a Thai company which owns & operates the site in Nonthaburi with any responsibility for delays.   Much better than being arrested.

[PeterRS]

This is utter madness!

[Vessey]

Might some of this pressure on AZ be because they have lost confidence in the Chinese Sinovac vaccine that they had been relying so heavily on?

[vaughn]

7 hours ago, Vessey said:

Might some of this pressure on AZ be because they have lost confidence in the Chinese Sinovac vaccine that they had been relying so heavily on?

I'd say you're spot on from what i've been reading.

A similar thing happened in Australia with AZ when health advice emerged on not giving AZ to under 40s by our health agency (rightly or wrongly). We put a lot of our eggs in the AZ basket in Aus, then we didn't have the vaccine diversity to switch out to mRNA vaccines for under 40s to keep up with demand, resulting in a stunted and slow roll out.

It seems to be a bit of a lesson in diversification for a lot of countries at the moment who put too much hope in a single supplier.

[spoon]

5 minutes ago, vaughn said:

I'd say you're spot on from what i've been reading.

A similar thing happened in Australia with AZ when health advice emerged on not giving AZ to under 40s by our health agency (rightly or wrongly). We put a lot of our eggs in the AZ basket in Aus, then we didn't have the vaccine diversity to switch out to mRNA vaccines for under 40s to keep up with demand, resulting in a stunted and slow roll out.

It seems to be a bit of a lesson in diversification for a lot of countries at the moment who put too much hope in a single supplier.

Did australia end up donating their AZ vaccine or even with not giving to under 40s, they still didnt have enough vaccine?

[vaughn]

2 minutes ago, spoon said:

Did australia end up donating their AZ vaccine or even with not giving to under 40s, they still didnt have enough vaccine?

I am not sure, i believe we have been donating excess AZ supply to Papua New Guinea and some other pacific island nations but I can't be certain on numbers for that because we were already producing and sending AZ that way to help out.

The health advice has been very confusing here, so the federal health advice at the moment is 'if you are under 40, you can still get AZ if you give informed consent and speak to your GP' but uptake has not been very high on that from my understanding. It seems like a lot of our population in that age group and some older age brackets are holding out for more Pfizer and Moderna supply.

 

Even without the AZ changes we would likely be way behind in our vaccine rollout, our government has mismanaged the vaccination program from the start.

source

[spoon]

We got similar reaction to AZ initially, and our gov first wanted to limit AZ just for elderly, but after that announcement, 10k+ people pulled out of the registration. Due to this, gov decided to make AZ an opt in vaccine, and registration is based on first come first serve and 8k or so of those who pulled out reregister.

First batch registration of about 200k+ doses opened for only two states, filled up within 3 hours. Second batch of 1.2mil doses, opened to 5 states, sold out within 90mins. Thereafter, gov decided to put back AZ in the general vaccination plan. 

Of course our daily cases are at its worst now, 13k yesterday. So right now, any vaccines is highly sought after, be it pfizer, az or sinovac. Our DG of health just released a statement that 3k+ fully vaccinated HCW were infected, but only 3 of them at stage 3, 3 at stage 4 and zero at stage 5. All of them are vaccinated with 2 dose of pfizer. So, if anyone had a choice, pfizer would be favorable.

 

[reader]

From Bangkok Post

Fate of 100m-dose vaccination hangs in the air

Leaked correspondence between the Thai government and the Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca has raised a big question about the former’s commitment to administer 100 million doses by the end of this year.

Isra News Agency on Saturday posted a letter sent by Sjoerd Hubben, vice-president for global corporate affairs of AstraZeneca Inc, to Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul 22 days ago.

The letter explains to the ministry that the most Thailand would get from the European drugmaker’s local contract manufacturer would 5-6 million doses a month, which is consistent with their earlier discussions.

Siam Bioscience Co Ltd, a company owned by His Majesty the King, was retooled to manufacture the vaccine. The government subsidised 600 million baht for the upgrade and officials later said the company would pay back the sum in the form of shots.

The letter caught many by surprise since the government had repeated many times that 100 million doses would be administered by the end of the year to inoculate at least 70% of the population, with 61 million of them being locally produced AstraZeneca.

On various occasions, the government assured people that AstraZeneca would supply at least 10 million doses a month for the rest of the year.

The question that naturally followed is what vaccines the government would buy to achieve that goal, especially when all sides have agreed that Sinovac, which is the most readily available, cannot effectively shield against the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Sinovac also costs at least four times more than AstraZeneca.

According to the letter, the Ministry of Public Health to date has placed two orders for 61 million doses of AZ vaccine in total. The first, concluded in January this year, was for 26 million doses, and the second, closed in May this year, was for 35 million doses.

These 61 million doses were part of the 175 million that Siam Bioscience has been contracted to make. Thailand is to get 34.9% of its output, or 5-6 million doses a month. The rest will be shipped to other countries, AstraZeneca says in the letter.

Furthermore, the letter revealed that in early September last year the government was committed to buying only 3 million doses a month. Therefore, AZ says it hopes Thailand should be pleased that it is now receiving 5-6 million doses a month.

The company also mentioned that it had urged the government back in September last year to enter the Covax vaccine-sharing facility, along with buying directly from manufacturers. Thailand is one of a handful of developing countries that have not joined Covax.

The dates when the agreements were actually concluded, as mentioned in the letter, also raised eyebrows. It showed the agreement for the second batch of 35 million doses was concluded as recently as May this year, even though the third wave has been raging through the country since the start of April.

Mr Anutin told Isra that Thailand had in fact reserved the supply early this year. In any case, the cabinet approved the budget for it on March 5 and it took two months after that to sign the agreement.

Dr Nakorn Premsri, director of the National Vaccine Institute, on July 2 was the first to reveal the shortfall of AstraZeneca supplies.

Deputy Public Health Minister Sathit Pitutecha also admitted on Thursday that AstraZeneca would not be able to deliver all 61 million doses under the two contracts until May next year. The original deadline was supposed to have been December.

Contrary to what people had assumed earlier, he said 10 million doses a month was in fact Thailand’s capacity to vaccinate people, not the number of vaccines it would get from AstraZeneca. He said the company had seen the vaccination plan but had said nothing.

The revelation had led some Thais to think it was AstraZeneca that had failed to honour the contract, potentially derailing the country’s immunisation plan.

The Opposition even urged the government to exercise its authority under the vaccine law to ban exports of Thai-made vaccines when there are shortages in the country.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2150423/fate-of-100m-dose-vaccination-hangs-in-the-air

[Guest]

Politicians in many countries fail to understand that it takes time to set up a production line and you can't just double the capacity at short notice.     The President of the EU Commission was one example.  Countries need to place orders so that the suppliers set up capacity !

 

According to the above report, Thailand only ordered 26 million doses of AZ in January, that's enough for 13 million people or 18.6% of the population.   What were they thinking ?    Committing to buy at a rate of just 3 million doses per month.

The UK is good for comparison, due to a near identical population.   The UK ordered 100 million AZ doses, last year AND with all the other vaccines has ordered over 500 million doses.  The idea is to order several vaccines, in case some fail or are delayed.  The Novavax is one example which was delayed.

Even then, it has taken the UK over 6 months to vaccinate about 88% of the adult population, with vaccine supply constraining injections to a maximum of 15 million per month, often lower.

I have no idea why the Thai government has not done the obvious and ordered more doses of a proven vaccine earlier.    The cost of the Astra Zeneca vaccine is certainly not a problem, at about £4 per dose (180 baht).     Compare with Thai GDP per capita of ~700 baht per day pre pandemic or LOST GDP per capita of 393 baht per week due to the pandemic.   

Buying vaccines to escape from this mess was an obvious move back in 2020, with low financial risk and much higher potential rewards.  Plus good results from early trials.   By January 2021, with covid re-appearing in Thailand AND vaccines being approved in several other countries, it should have been even more obvious.

 

 

[reader]

From Bangkok Post

Record 11,397 new Covid cases, 101 deaths reported Sunday

The country had a record high of 11,397 new Covid-19 cases and 101 fatalities over the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry reported on Sunday.

There were 11,079 cases in the general population and 318 among prison inmates.

Since April 1, when the third wave of Covid-19 began, there have been 374,523 Covid-19 patients, 256,484 of whom have recovered.

The previous high of new daily Covid-19 cases was at 10,082 reported on Saturday.

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration said 60 of the fatalities had been registered in Bangkok, 15 in Samut Prakan and five each in Nakhon Pathom and Pattani. The rest were distributed among 12 other provinces.

Bangkok led all provinces in the number of new cases at 2,166, followed by Pathum Thani (684), Samut Sakhon (677), Chon Buri (660) and Samut Prakan (604).

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2150683/record-11-397-new-covid-cases-101-deaths-reported-sunday

===================================

Siriraj doctor calls for end to Sinovac imports

The government should stop importing Sinovac vaccines as they are not effective enough to fight the Delta variant of Covid-19, a medical expert said.

Speaking in a Clubhouse chatroom, Prasit Watanapa, dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Siriraj Hospital, said Sinovac vaccines were not effective enough to boost immunity responses so they were not suited to deal with the highly-transmissible Delta variant.

"Pfizer vaccines are better. From now on, the government should avoid placing orders for Sinovac vaccines because they have efficacy problems. It should look at vaccines of high quality such as AZ [AstraZeneca] and J&J [Johnson & Johnson], mRNA vaccines and protein subunit vaccines such as Novavax,'' Dr Prasit said.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2150515/siriraj-doctor-calls-for-end-to-sinovac-imports

 

 

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, z909 said:

I have no idea why the Thai government has not done the obvious and ordered more doses of a proven vaccine earlier.  

Prime minister was reading our  boards full of praise of how well Thailand was handling pandemic ( at one point rightly so  but it looks it was more luck that shrewd policy) and thought country is relatively safe just by closing Swampy and chasing foreign  arrivals away ?

[Guest]

29 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

And that is surely a big, big problem for Thailand, especially with the local Astra Zeneca manufacturer having once again reduced the supply it was contracted to provide. Instead of 61 million doses by the end of this year, the company needs another 5 months until May before it fulfils its contractual commitment.

Let's be fair about this.  If I am following this correctly (from another thread), the story that Astra Zeneca is reducing the rate of supply is merely something claimed by one Thai government official.    I've not seen any proof -e.g. original contracted delivery rates and revised contracted delivery rates/

Meanwhile, Astra Zeneca are saying the rate of supply is consistent with earlier discussions AND that of the 61 million doses, 35 million DOSES WERE ONLY ORDERED IN MAY 2021. 

[I am replying to comments from the Phuket thread, as this topic belongs here]

[reader]

Not to worry. Eventually this dispute will be settled by the careful and orderly examination of documents and compromise by the relative parties.

 

[vinapu]

25 minutes ago, reader said:

Not to worry. Eventually this dispute will be settled by the careful examination of documents and compromise by the relative parties.

 

 

...or by Delta variant

[PeterRS]

9 hours ago, z909 said:

Let's be fair about this.  If I am following this correctly (from another thread), the story that Astra Zeneca is reducing the rate of supply is merely something claimed by one Thai government official.    I've not seen any proof -e.g. original contracted delivery rates and revised contracted delivery rates/

Meanwhile, Astra Zeneca are saying the rate of supply is consistent with earlier discussions AND that of the 61 million doses, 35 million DOSES WERE ONLY ORDERED IN MAY 2021. 

[I am replying to comments from the Phuket thread, as this topic belongs here]

When the deal with Astra Zeneca was first announced by the Thai Embassy in London, the Embassy's official report states, "It is expected that the manufacturing process in Thailand can start within the first quarter in 2021." This did not happen.

https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/content/thailand-and-uk-signed-a-landmark-agreement-for-co?cate=5d6636c215e39c3bd0006cb5

A month later the Prime Minister reported that the contract was for the purchase of 26 million doses largely for over 60s. Given that Thailand still had not started its second small wave and had only had 3,961 confirmed cases, being fair this must have seemed a not unreasonable supply at that time.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2026547/thailand-signs-deal-with-astrazeneca-for-covid-vaccine

Then in March this year, before the massive third wave and a time when the country had still recorded a total on only 26,500 infections, the Health Ministry announced a delay because there had been reports of blood clots in some European countries.

https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/suspension-of-astrazeneca-jab-delays-thailands-planned-vaccination-drive

As a result the Prime Minister and his cabinet delayed getting their vaccinations but quickly did so with doses from overseas.

Since then, the entire situation has been a disaster. The PM went against all medical advice by allowing Songkran to go ahead with millions travelling around the country. By early June (at the latest) it was announced that the number of doses had been upped to 61 million. Then the local manufacturer of AZ announced production delays. Then just a few days ago it was finally announced that up to 60% of those 61 million doses are earmarked for other countries. The whole process is a disaster, clouded in the usual Thai secrecy and made worse by the ownership of the company which is the local AZ manufacturer - an issue the law does not allow us to discuss in this forum. 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, PeterRS said:

When the deal with Astra Zeneca was first announced by the Thai Embassy in London, the Embassy's official report states, "It is expected that the manufacturing process in Thailand can start within the first quarter in 2021." This did not happen.

Where did you get that information from ?

We know that samples of the vaccine had been manufactured in Thailand and sent overseas for quality checks, which were completed by 9 May.    

So to meet that schedule, it seems possible that the manufacturing process did start in the first quarter.      The quotation from the Thai Embassy makes no reference to completing the manufacturing of batches, or delivery. 

[PeterRS]

4 hours ago, z909 said:

Where did you get that information from ?

In the last sentence of the first link - immediately following what I wrote.

https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/content/thailand-and-uk-signed-a-landmark-agreement-for-co?cate=5d6636c215e39c3bd0006cb5

[Guest]

Sorry, my previous post was not 100% clear.    Maybe 99%......    The part where I would like to know your source is the statement that they did not start manufacturing in the first quarter.

I've seen no such evidence & consider it highly probable that they did start manufacturing in the first quarter, given that batches were finished and passed overseas quality checks in the first few days of May.

 

10 hours ago, PeterRS said:

This did not happen.

If you have evidence, please share it. 

When Astra Zeneca are licensing this vaccine around the world at cost & getting very little praise for that, I'm only going to accept some politician passing the buck onto Astra Zeneca when there is clear evidence.   Whilst also noting that people can be arrested for criticizing the local manufacturer, so it is safer for politicians to refer to Astra Zeneca.    So please don't take it personally.

 

[PeterRS]

2 hours ago, z909 said:

Sorry, my previous post was not 100% clear.    Maybe 99%......    The part where I would like to know your source is the statement that they did not start manufacturing in the first quarter.

I've seen no such evidence & consider it highly probable that they did start manufacturing in the first quarter, given that batches were finished and passed overseas quality checks in the first few days of May.

I may also have been less than 100% correct but all reports I have seen state that the first production roll out was on June 2. 

https://apnews.com/article/thailand-coronavirus-vaccine-coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-2bf0cf9f527908b214d32db3092edf89

Other reports indicate the number of doses was below the contracted amount. Yet another report states that 50,000 doses of the AZ vaccine arrived from overseas in February. Another 150,000 doses from overseas were due to arrive in March and April.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2054799/astrazeneca-vaccine-approved-50-000-doses-due-in-february

Then AZ itself said on its website on 28 April that the first batches would be ready for delivery "in June this year."

https://www.astrazeneca.com/country-sites/thailand/press-release/thai20210428.html

I have no idea how long it takes to produce a vaccine. The key issue for me is when it was rolled out as a finished product.

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

I may also have been less than 100% correct but all reports I have seen state that the first production roll out was on June 2. https://apnews.com/article/thailand-coronavirus-vaccine-coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-2bf0cf9f527908b214d32db3092edf89

That is start of deliveries. 

Your earlier quote was referring to start of manufacturing.

There can be a vast difference between the two dates and it is highly unfair to claim Astra Zeneca have a delay, based on confusing the two project milestones. 

For any complex product, after the start of manufacturing, there may be time required for the manufacturing of the product, packaging it, testing it and other quality control procedures.    So a delivery date of 2 June proves nothing about the start of manufacturing date.   

If the Thai Embassy choose to quote an irrelevant date not linked to scheduled delivery dates, that is not Astra Zeneca's fault.

 

We would not expect a whiskey manufacturer, an aircraft maker or some company building a nuclear power plant to deliver completed product the day after they start making the product. 

 

47 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

Then AZ itself said on its website on 28 April that the first batches would be ready for delivery "in June this year."

https://www.astrazeneca.com/country-sites/thailand/press-release/thai20210428.html

They achieved that target, right at the start of the month.    

I have still seen no evidence of any other agreed delivery date for locally manufactured vaccine, including in all 3 links in the previous post.

 

 

[khaolakguy]

Agreeing with z909, there is a huge difference between start of manufacturing and start of delivery, and it's dishonest to claim otherwise. In the case of this very successful vaccine the process of manufacturing is complicated.

 

Quote

These are the crucial manufacturing processes needed to create a vaccine on an unprecedented scale:

• CMC –  A commercial manufacturing process has been developed from an initial small-scale process before rapidly scaling to increase productivity yields, all the time ensuring purity of the final product. This consistent process is employed by each manufacturing facility we are collaborating with.
• Virus seed stock & host cell bank –  These starting materials are used by manufacturers around the world to initiate vaccine production.
• Drug substance – Host cells are grown in a series of bioreactors of increasing scale and infected by the virus seed to produce a final vaccine molecule. A series of filtration and chromatography steps are taken to harvest and purify the vaccine.
• Drug product – The drug substance is combined with buffers to achieve a final formulation and then filled into multi-dose vials, which are labelled and packaged.  
• Testing and quality control – Extensive testing is conducted on every batch throughout the manufacturing process. Quality control measures are employed at all stages of production to ensure consistency and quality.

https://www.astrazeneca.com/what-science-can-do/topics/technologies/innovating-production-and-manufacture-to-meet-the-challenge-of-covid-19.html

[PeterRS]

9 hours ago, khaolakguy said:

Agreeing with z909, there is a huge difference between start of manufacturing and start of delivery, and it's dishonest to claim otherwise. In the case of this very successful vaccine the process of manufacturing is complicated.

Apologies! An honest mistake due to a misunderstanding. 

[Patanawet]

It look as though our beloved Deputy Dictator has been telling porky pies about his deal with AZ and only ordered 30% of what he claims.

[Guest]

My reading of it is that the government have been implying Thailand would get the entire output & quicker delivery than is the actual case.     In practice, a proportion of the output is reserved for overseas orders.   Which is perfectly reasonable if Thailand did not get their orders in first.

This does not affect the total order quantity, but the rate of supply.

Secondly, they seem to have announced the increased order well in advance of placing it.    I don't understand why they delayed, since the benefits of vaccines should have been clear in 2020 and earlier in 2021 there should have been question marks over Sinovac, from trial results in Brazil and comments about China giving people 3 doses due to weak antibody response.