Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has offered the EU an additional 8 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in an attempt to defuse a dispute over supplies, but the bloc said it was too far from what was originally promised, Reuters reported, citing an EU source.

The company last week unexpectedly announced a cut in supplies to the EU, citing production issues at the Belgian plant, which sparked an outraged block response.

EU officials said this means a 60% cut to 31 million doses by the end of March - a blow to the 27 EU member states, which are already lagging behind in vaccination campaigns compared to Israel, the UK, and the US.

An EU official directly involved in the talks said that earlier this week AstraZeneca had offered to increase shipments, possibly to 39 million doses in the first quarter, but this was deemed insufficient.

According to a deal signed in August, the company was supposed to deliver at least 80 million doses to the European Union during this period, the EU official said.

Another EU representative at a briefing on Wednesday that the company offered to deliver a quarter of the agreed volume of doses by March, which was a three-digit figure in the deal.

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said on Tuesday that the company has no legal requirement to ship the vaccines to the EU on time, as it has pledged to supply vaccines only under the best-result clause.