The feud between the European Union and AstraZeneca continues after AstraZeneca reportedly delayed the delivery of millions of vaccines the two agreed to.
AstraZeneca originally agreed to give the EU 80 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine. They cut that number to 31 million doses, with the EU saying they got even less than that amount, the Associated Press reported.
“Our contract is not a contractual commitment, it is a best effort,” AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said in an interview with an Italian newspaper. “Actually, we said we will do our best, but we cannot guarantee that we will succeed. In fact, we slowed a bit to get there. “
The EU originally had to pay AstraZeneca EUR 336 million ($ 407 million). An EU official told the Associated Press that the EU will get some of its money back if AstraZeneca fails to honor their end of the deal.
On Monday, the EU even threatened to impose export controls on all coronavirus vaccines produced in the EU.
“I call on AstraZeneca to be fully committed to restoring trust, providing full information and fulfilling its contractual, social and moral obligations,” said Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety.
Kyriakides said that if AstraZeneca can’t keep its promise by using EU facilities, it will have to send some of the vaccines they make to the UK. The statement comes after the UK seceded from the EU.
AstraZeneca has not yet been approved by EU drug regulators, but is expected to be reviewed Friday. At the moment, only Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are approved for use in the EU.
AstraZeneca hopes to distribute three billion doses of the coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year.