BRUSSELS – The European Union and United Kingdom-based drugs giant AstraZeneca today announced that they have reached a settlement in a dispute over a shortfall in coronavirus vaccine deliveries.
The deal will see the firm deliver the rest of the 300 million doses it promised under contracts with the EU before the end of March next year, and brings to an end a battle in Belgian courts.
Brussels was furious when the British-Swedish pharmaceutical outfit fell far short of its delivery promises, undermining the early stages of the EU Covid-19 vaccine roll-out.
Officials accused AstraZeneca of prioritising UK vaccine deliveries over the EU order, and European Commission lawyers went to court to demand deliveries or see huge daily fines imposed for any ongoing shortfall.
But, the firm argued that its contract with the bloc only obliged it to make “best efforts” to meet its delivery target, and that production bottlenecks at its European plants had been unavoidable.
In June, in an interim ruling pending the final settlement of the case, the Brussels court imposed a new delivery schedule on AstraZeneca that it was able to honour.
And now, the parties have agreed on dates that extend the deadline well into next year.
Ruud Dobber, executive vice-president for biopharmaceuticals at AstraZeneca, said: “I’m very pleased that we have been able to reach a common understanding that allows us to move forward and work in collaboration with the European Commission to help overcome the pandemic.”
AstraZeneca manufactures vaccines designed at Britain’s Oxford University and sells them on a non-profit basis – its version is cheaper and easier to store than many competitors’.
But, the EU has become frustrated by the slow pace of supply, and made another vaccine produced by United States giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech the workhorse of its buying programme.
A European Commission statement said AstraZeneca delivered 100 million doses in the first half of 2021, will send 135 million more by the end of the year, and another 65 million doses by next March.
“This will bring the total number of doses delivered to 300 million as agreed under the contract.” – AFP, September 3, 2021
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