The temperature may have cooled slightly after a meeting late Wednesday, which both parties said was constructive, but the problem has not yet been rectified and interests for EU countries are high.
‘We deplore the continuing lack of clarity on the delivery schedule and call for a clear plan from AstraZeneca for the prompt delivery of the amount of vaccines we have reserved for. [the first quarter], ”She said on Twitter.
The British-Swedish company committed to closer coordination after the meeting.
“We had a constructive and open discussion about the complexity of scaling up the production of our vaccine, and the challenges we faced. We are committed to coordinating even more closely to put together a path for delivery. of our vaccine over the coming months, a spokesman said.
The numbers
The dispute began on Monday when EU officials said AstraZeneca had told them that production problems meant the company would deliver “significantly less” doses in the coming weeks than agreed.
The European Commission has ordered 400 million doses on behalf of EU member states and is ready to start rolling them across the block once the vaccine is approved, possibly this week.
“Pharmaceutical companies and vaccine developers have moral, social and contractual responsibilities that they must uphold,” Kyriakides told reporters on Wednesday. ‘The opinion that the company is not obliged to deliver [vaccines] … is not correct or acceptable. ‘
What does AstraZeneca say?
“The contract with the UK was first signed and of course the UK said ‘you provide us first’, and that’s fair enough,” Soriot said. Three months later, when the European Union wanted to supply ‘more or less at the same time’ as the United Kingdom, AstraZeneca could not commit to it.
‘Our contract [with the European Union] is not a contractual commitment. This is a best effort. Actually, we said we were going to try our best, but we can not guarantee that we will succeed. ‘When we get there, we’re a little slow,’ he said.
The European Union has acknowledged that it has signed a “best effort” agreement with AstraZeneca.
It is not clear whether EU officials have more cards to play over the contract dispute. One EU diplomat noted that in the past, the European Union has quickly started litigation and that it will now instruct lawyers if it believes AstraZeneca would breach its contract.
Why can AstraZeneca no longer make vaccines or divert supplies?
Soriot admitted in the interview that his company was experiencing problems at one large factory in Europe. He said the early stages of vaccine production were often ‘complicated’ and that the company was ‘basically two months behind’ where it wanted to be.
“Would I like to do better? Of course. But you know, if we deliver what we plan to deliver in February, it’s not a small volume,” Soriot said. “We plan to deliver millions of doses in Europe, it is not small.”
AstraZeneca said in a statement that it has built more than a dozen local supply chains to manufacture its vaccine, along with more than 20 partners in more than 15 countries.
“Each supply chain has been developed with input and investment from specific countries or international organizations based on the supply agreements, including our agreement with the European Commission,” he said.
The European Union on Wednesday suggested that doses produced at AstraZeneca’s plants in the UK should be used to fulfill the order. AstraZeneca says this can only happen once UK supplies have been delivered.
“Once we have achieved sufficient vaccinations in the UK, we will be able to use the website to help Europe as well,” Soriot said.
Why is tension so high?
The pandemic is still raging across Europe, and many countries are being criticized for the slow vaccination of vaccines.
Germany has been one year since the virus’ arrival Wednesday, and the country is showing no signs of diminishing infections. Earlier this week, Portugal reported a record number of daily deaths within 24 hours. In countries around the block, strict lockouts apply.
Meanwhile, the stock of vaccines in Europe is running low.
The situation is also dire in parts of Spain. The Madrid regional government has decided to stop the administration of the first doses of vaccines for the next two weeks due to the growing uncertainty about the supply situation.
“We urgently need more doses,” said Ignacio Aguado, local vice president.
As a result, the European Union and national governments are coming under tremendous pressure.
“We’re in a pandemic. We’re losing people every day. It’s not numbers, it’s not statistics, it’s people, with families, with friends and colleagues,” Kyriakides said.
– Luke McGee reported.