European Council President Charles Michel on Sunday called for “transparency” towards pharmaceutical companies on the reasons for the delays in deliveries of covid-19 vaccine announced by AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
“What we are asking of these companies is a transparent dialogue,” Charles Michel told several French media outlets.
“Obviously … we intend to apply the contracts that have been signed by the pharmaceutical companies,” said the president of the Council, which represents the 27 EU member states.
“When Pfizer announced delays of a few weeks, it was seen that we reacted strongly and in the end the delays announced a few weeks were reduced “, said Michel.
Charles Michel, however, was sympathetic to the industrial difficulties and “obstacles” that laboratories may face, such as the problems of “supplying the raw materials that are needed”.
Following Pfizer’s announced delays in COVID-19 vaccine deliveries, a similar announcement from AstraZeneca sparked concern and anger in Europe on Friday., which carries a race against time before the emergence of new more dangerous variants of coronavirus.
The European Union has signed a total of six contracts with pharmaceutical companies and is in negotiations with two others for a total of 2.5 billion potential doses.