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The European Union Commission will challenge AstraZeneca in a Belgian court over coronavirus vaccine delivery shortfalls that delayed efforts to restart vaccination in the EU. The EU is suing the British-Swedish pharma group to deliver 90 million more covid-19 vaccine doses before July. According to the Commission, the deadline for the contract was set for mid-June, and the EU says the company will face financial penalties if it does not meet this deadline.
AstraZeneca delivered only 30 million doses in the 1st quarter of the 120 million it was contracted to supply. The current quarter, which runs until June 30, plans to deliver only 70 million of the 180 million originally promised.
A Commission official close to the case told this month that AstraZeneca was delivering doses at a rate of only 10 million per month, which is below the planned rate.
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At the end of April, the group denies having failed in its duty and, at the end of April, attacks the lawsuit as ‘unfounded’. One lawyer for AstraZeneca claimed that the EU had been warned ”as early as February” of the delays and expressed surprise that the association had waited at least two months to take the matter to court. The EU has also accused the pharma giant that worked with Oxford University to develop its vaccine of having favoured the UK in its deliveries, even for jabs made by subcontractors on the continent.
