The feud between the European Union and AstraZeneca continues after AstraZeneca allegedly delayed the delivery of millions of vaccines agreed upon by the two.
AstraZeneca originally agreed to give 80 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to the EU. They reduced the number to 31 million doses, while the EU said they received even less than the amount, Associated Press report.
“Our contract is not a contractual commitment, it is a best effort,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said in an interview with an Italian newspaper. “We basically said we were going to try our best, but we can not guarantee that we will succeed. When we get there, we are a little delayed. ‘
The EU originally had to pay AstraZeneca 336 million euros ($ 407 million). An EU official told the Associated Press that the EU would recover its money if AstraZeneca did not comply with the end of the agreement.
The EU even threatened on Monday to establish export controls on any coronavirus vaccines in the EU.
“I call on AstraZeneca to be fully committed to rebuilding trust, providing complete information and fulfilling its contractual, social and moral obligations,” said Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety.
Kyriakides said that if AstraZeneca could not fulfill its commitment to EU facilities, it would have to send some of the vaccines they make to the UK. The statement comes after the UK parted ways with the EU.
AstraZeneca has not yet been approved by EU drug regulators, but is expected to be reviewed on Friday. At present, only Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are approved for use in the EU.
AstraZeneca hopes to distribute three billion doses of the coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year.