The fight between the European Union and AstraZeneca continues after it seems that AstraZeneca has delayed the delivery of millions of vaccines that the two had agreed.
AstraZeneca initially agreed to give the EU 80 million doses of coronavirus vaccine. They reduced this number to 31 million doses, the EU saying they received even less than this amount, Associated Press reported.
“Our contract is not a contractual commitment, it is the best effort,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said in an interview with an Italian newspaper. “Basically, I said that we will try our best, but we cannot guarantee that we will succeed. In fact, getting there is a little late. ”
The EU initially had to pay AstraZeneca 336 million euros ($ 407 million). An EU official told the Associated Press that the EU would recover some of its money if AstraZeneca did not fulfill the end of its agreement.
The EU even threatened on Monday to establish controls on the export of any coronavirus vaccines produced in the EU.
“I call on AstraZeneca to make a full commitment to rebuild trust, to provide comprehensive information and to comply with its contractual, social and moral obligations,” said Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety.
Kyriakides said that if AstraZeneca cannot fulfill its commitment using EU facilities, it should send some of the vaccines it makes to the UK. The statement comes after Britain seceded from the EU.
AstraZeneca is not yet approved by EU drug regulators, but is expected to be reviewed on Friday. At this time, only Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have been authorized for use in the EU.
AstraZeneca hopes to deliver three billion doses of coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year.