Friday, September 03, 2021
Delivery problems with corona vaccine
The EU and Astrazeneca put the dispute aside
At the end of September, they should face each other in court for the first time. The EU Commission and Astrazeneca are now reaching an out-of-court settlement. The British-Swedish company is delivering millions of vaccine doses – and making up for broken promises.
The EU Commission and the pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca have settled their ongoing legal dispute over the delivery of Corona vaccination doses, as the commission announced. This guarantees the delivery of 200 million outstanding cans by March 2022. “Although this week we reached the important milestone of fully vaccinating 70 percent of the EU’s adult population, vaccination rates vary widely between our Member States and the continued availability of vaccines, including Astrazeneca, remains crucial,” said Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides.
The EU Commission took legal action against Astrazeneca at the end of April. The British-Swedish manufacturer had repeatedly and unilaterally cut deliveries of corona vaccine to the European Union in the months before, with reference to production problems. A first court hearing was originally planned for the end of September.
Astrazeneca Vice President Ruud Dobber said in a statement that he was delighted “that we have been able to achieve a common understanding that will enable us to move forward with the European Commission and help overcome the pandemic”. The company plans to work closely with the Commission to support the COVAX vaccine alliance.
According to Astrazeneca, the group is committed to delivering 60 million vaccine doses by the end of the third quarter of 2021 and 75 million doses by the end of the fourth quarter. In addition, 65 million cans are to be delivered in the first quarter of 2022. “Member States will be provided with regular delivery schedules and limited discounts will apply in the event of late dosing,” the company said.
According to the information, Astrazeneca should deliver all contractually agreed 300 million cans by the end of March 2022. The company denied to the last that it broke the contract concluded with the EU. According to its own information, the manufacturer and its partners have made around 1.1 billion cans available to more than 170 countries. About two thirds of this went to poorer countries.
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