The discussion over AstraZeneca’s agreement to supply COVID-19 vaccines to the EU deepened on Wednesday, with the European Commission accusing the pharmaceutical giant of breaking a “binding commitment”.
AstraZeneca denied having given up on a scheduled meeting with EU officials. The company says it plans to meet with EU officials later on Wednesday in Brussels, refuting previous reports.
The comments came after EU officials said the company had withdrawn from the meeting to discuss postponing vaccination commitments for the bloc. The talks are scheduled to be the third in two days.
“We can confirm that AstraZeneca accepted an invitation this morning to attend a meeting with the EC Steering Committee today. Reports that this is not the case are inaccurate,” said AstraZeneca in a statement provided to Euronews.
European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the EU had provided investments in exchange for a “binding commitment” to produce vaccines before regulatory approval.
“Not being able to guarantee the production capacity is against the letter and the spirit of our agreement,” she said at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.
AstraZeneca denies having violated the terms of its contract with the EU after it was revealed that planned supplies will be cut by 60% from the levels it had agreed to reach. He blames production failures.
The dispute highlights tension over vaccine supply as Europe struggles to implement coronavirus inoculation programs.
Separately, the French company Sanofi pledged to help with vaccine production by increasing the distribution of vaccines made by rival producers Pfizer and BioNTech.
EU ‘wants to publish AstraZeneca contract’
The EU is ready to publish its contract with AstraZeneca if the company agrees, said Euronews Brussels correspondent Shona Murray, citing an EU source.
The source added that the EU expects the company to do its utmost to produce the vaccine dosages set out in the agreement. Plants outside the EU should be used to make up for the deficit.
Earlier, an EU official said, speaking anonymously, that the EU would “insist that they” return to the negotiating table to explain the delay in delivery once the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is approved for use by the European Medicines Agency.
The Commission said that it is looking for “more explicit” reasons from AstraZeneca to explain the reduction in production and that it wants the problem to be resolved now.
EU registration date allowed ‘less time’ to solve problems
On Tuesday night, the head of Astrazeneca reacted to criticism from the European Union over plans that would lead to a huge shortage of supplies, saying that it only pledged to make a “best effort” to deliver.
“Our contract is not a contractual commitment. It is a better effort. We basically said that we will do our best, but we cannot guarantee that we will succeed. In fact, getting there, we are a little late, ”said Chief Executive Pascal Soriot.
The comments were made in an interview with LENA (Leading European Newspaper Alliance) on Tuesday and published in European newspapers.
Soriot added that the EU ordered its supplies three months after the UK, allowing less time to resolve production problems.
He said there were also some initial problems in the UK supply chain, but “the UK contract was signed three months before the EU contract. So with the UK, we had three more months to resolve the problems encountered” .
The CEO also insisted that his company “certainly does not take vaccines from Europeans to sell them elsewhere at a profit”.
The laboratory, in partnership with the University of Oxford, pledged not to profit from the sale of vaccines during the pandemic.
While the EU’s regulatory green light for this vaccine is expected on Friday, the British laboratory announced last week that deliveries would be lower than expected in the first quarter due to a “drop in production” at a European factory.
It involves up to 400 million doses of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine, which has the advantage of being cheaper to produce than its competitors, in addition to being easier to store and transport.
Brussels increased its tone on Monday in its standoff with AstraZeneca, considering the delays in the delivery of its COVID-19 vaccine “unacceptable”. The European Commission now demands “transparency” in exports outside the EU of doses produced in the bloc.
The slowdown in production has alarmed EU countries, already on the edge after difficulties in delivering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. This increases pressure on the European Commission, which has negotiated pre-sale contracts on behalf of the EU27.
Sanofi enters the scene
French pharmaceutical Sanofi intervened to help ease the panic over the lack of COVID-19 vaccines in the EU. Sanofi will fill and pack vaccines made by rival producers Pfizer and BioNtech starting in July in an effort to help meet huge demand.
The company will aim to help deliver more than 100 million doses this year from its German factory in Frankfurt, CEO Paul Hudson told Le Figaro newspaper.
The French government has been pressing Sanofi to use its facilities to help manufacture vaccines from its rivals, given the high demand and problems with the supply of the few vaccines that are already available.
Last month, Sanofi and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline said a vaccine they are jointly developing showed an insufficient immune response in older people, delaying its launch later this year.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen repeated on Tuesday a call for vaccine producers to deliver on time.
“Europe has invested billions to help develop the world’s first COVID-19 vaccines,” she said at the World Economic Forum virtual event in Switzerland. “And now, companies must comply. They must honor their obligations ”.
The Commission raised the possibility of strict export controls for doses made in the bloc in its demands for more information on vaccine production.
“Let me just emphasize the word that is important here: transparency. It is not about blocking. It is about knowing – what companies are exporting or will export to markets outside the European Union,” said the spokesman for Eric Mamer Commission.
The slow launch of vaccine distribution in Europe has prompted Hungary to ask for doses from Russia, the country’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, told Euronews this week.
Meanwhile, the German operation drew criticism from Bavarian governor Markus Soeder.
“I think people in Europe are extremely stressed and tired from this year-long pandemic. Governments are under pressure,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot added in his interview, specifying that Europe “represents 5 percent of the population, will obtain 17 percent of our production in February ”.
Soriot also said in his interview that the laboratory is working “with Oxford University on a vaccine that will target” the South African variant of COVID-19, a virus more transmissible than the first version of the new coronavirus.