The rivalry between the European Union and AstraZeneca continues after AstraZeneca delayed the delivery of millions of vaccines with which the two had agreed.
AstraZeneca originally agreed to give the EU 80 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine. They reduced that number to 31 million doses, with the EU saying they received even less than that amount, the Associated Press reported.
“Our contract is not a contractual commitment, it is an effort in the best way,” said AstraZeneca’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, in an interview with an Italian newspaper. “Basically, we said that we will do our best, but we cannot guarantee that we will succeed. In fact, to get there, we’re a little late. “
The EU was originally supposed to pay AstraZeneca 336 million euros ($ 407 million). An EU official told the Associated Press that the EU will recover part of its money if AstraZeneca does not comply with the end of the agreement.
The EU even threatened on Monday to establish export controls on any EU-made coronavirus vaccine.
“I urge AstraZeneca to fully commit 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 cannot fulfill its commitment using EU facilities, it must ship some of the vaccines it is making in the UK. The statement comes after the UK split from the EU.
AstraZeneca has not yet been approved by EU drug regulators, but it is due to be reviewed on Friday. At the moment, only the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have been authorized for use in the EU.
AstraZeneca expects to distribute three billion doses of the coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year.