BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union is putting pressure on the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to deliver more doses of the coronavirus vaccine to the bloc and stick to its initial promises once the jab gets EU approval, especially since the bloc is already invested in improving production capacity.
The European Commission also wants a transparency register to approve and approve the export of vaccines from EU countries to third countries.
“We, as the EU, must be able to know if and which vaccines are exported from the EU,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn. Only then can we understand whether our EU contracts with producers are being served fairly. An obligation to obtain approval for the export of vaccines at EU level makes sense. ”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday held urgent talks with chief operating officer Pascal Soriot and EU countries also met with AstraZeneca to encourage the British-Swedish company to increase its vaccine production and its contractual targets. to reach.
The EU, with the economic and political influence of the largest trade bloc in the world, lags far behind countries such as Israel and Britain in deploying vaccines for its most vulnerable population and health workers. The leaders of the bloc received strong criticism for moving so slowly.
The European Medicines Agency will have to review the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine on Friday and it is strongly expected that it will be approved. The AstraZeneca vaccine is already in use in Britain and has been approved for emergency use by half a dozen countries, including India, Pakistan, Argentina and Mexico.
AstraZeneca’s announcement that it would deliver fewer vaccines to the EU earlier only increased pressure on the 27-nation bloc, especially as Pfizer-BioNTech, the first vaccine to receive EU approval, failed last week. to fulfill its promised deliveries to the EU. Pfizer has temporarily reduced the delivery of vaccines to the EU and Canada as it refurbishes its plant in Belgium to increase overall production. Italy has threatened to sue Pfizer for the delays.
The political pressure prompted the European Commission, which is the EU chief executive, to take action on Monday with von der Leyen’s call to head AstraZeneca.
“It has made it clear that it expects AstraZeneca to comply with the contractual arrangements set forth in the Pre-Purchase Agreement,” said Eric Mamer, her spokeswoman.
“She reminded Mr Soriot that the EU had invested significant sums in the company up front to ensure that production was increased before the conditional market approval was granted by the European Medicines Agency.”
Of course, production issues can occur with the complex vaccine, but we expect the company to find solutions and utilize all possible flexibility to deliver quickly. ”
The delays will make it harder to achieve early targets in the EU’s goal of vaccinating 70% of the adult population by late summer.
European Council President Charles Michel said the EU had already “punched” Pfizer last week to ensure the delays end by the end of this week.
The EU has signed six vaccine contracts for more than 2 billion doses, but only the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have so far been approved for use.
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Geir Moulson contributed to this report from Berlin.
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