AstraZeneca says it has had a positive meeting with the EU on vaccine driving

MILAN (Reuters) – AstraZeneca had a positive meeting with the European Commission last week, the Anglo-Swedish company said after an Italian newspaper said the group did not respond to an EU complaint letter within a 20-day deadline. about COVID-19 vaccines. .

Member States of the European Union and the pharmaceutical company are at odds over the delivery of shots after the group was sent less than indicated to the EU than in the initial agreement.

The Italian daily Corriere della Sera said on Sunday that AstraZeneca had not yet responded to a letter sent by the Commission on March 19 to complain about the low contracts provided by COVID-19 vaccines.

“We can confirm that we have responded to the Commission within the required time frame of the dispute resolution mechanism, and that our team had a very collaborative meeting with the Commission last week,” AstraZeneca’s Director of Global Media Relations Matthew Kent said in a statement. email said. message.

Earlier on Sunday, a European Commission spokesman confirmed that Brussels had written to AstraZeneca on March 19, calling it a “dispute resolution notice”, adding that it was a first step in discussing the issue. te los.

“At this stage we are still waiting for the necessary elements … we remain in contact with AstraZeneca to ensure timely delivery of a sufficient number of doses,” the spokesman told Reuters without elaborating.

According to the contract signed between the EU and the company, which is public, one of the parties will first notify the issue with a letter. Then, after 20 days from the written notice, they will “meet and try to resolve the dispute through good faith negotiations”.

Under the contract signed on COVID-19 vaccines, European Union states expected to receive 120 million doses of AstraZeneca by the end of March, but the company provided only 30.12 million doses, Corriere said.

AstraZeneca’s spokesperson did not comment on the offer data.

As infection in many European countries continues to increase and vaccination campaigns hit, some governments have become increasingly irritated with the pharmaceutical group.

“Apparently they (AstraZeneca) have not lived up to their commitments and so in a way mocked our Europeans,” French Foreign Minister Clement Beaune told the LCI television news channel on Sunday.

Beaune said the EU letter to the Anglo-Swedish group could even lead to a fight in court.

“We have been sending a formal notice in recent days. This is the beginning of a possible legal process if the company does not rectify things,” he said. He added that it was a better option to put pressure on the company to accelerate production in Europe. compared to starting a legal process that would take time.