Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, gives a press release at the end of a videoconference meeting of the members of the European Council on the Covid-19 pandemic in Brussels on January 21, 2021.
OLIVIER HOSLET | AFP | Getty Images
LONDON – The European Union published an edited version of the contract with AstraZeneca on Friday, as the bloc pressures the drug maker to supply the promised Covid vaccine supplies.
The EU, which has been criticized for slow rollout of vaccinations, was hit by AstraZeneca last week when the company said it could deliver only a fraction of the shots agreed for the first quarter.
AstraZeneca has denied that it has failed to meet its commitments, saying the delivery figures to the 27-country bloc were targets rather than promises. The company also cited production problems in its European factories due to the delays.
The European Medicines Agency is expected to make a decision on Friday whether or not to approve the AstraZeneca vaccine.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on German radio Friday morning: “There are binding orders and the contract is crystal clear.”
“AstraZeneca has also explicitly assured us in this contract that no other obligation would prevent the contract from being fulfilled,” she said, according to Reuters.
The head of the EU’s executive arm claimed that the agreement contained clear delivery amounts for December and the first three quarters of 2021.
AstraZeneca was not immediately available to respond when CNBC reached out on Friday.
International competition concerns
Earlier this week, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot reportedly said the EU contract was based on a so-called “best-effort” clause and did not formally commit the drug maker to a specific delivery schedule.
Von der Leyen of the EU rejected this suggestion on Friday, adding that the clause was only valid if it was unclear whether AstraZeneca could develop a safe and effective vaccine. She also claimed that the contract specifically mentioned four manufacturing sites that would supply the vaccine to Europe, two of which are in Great Britain.
EU officials have indicated that deliveries from the UK to Europe could be diverted if delays in European production persist.
The EU, with a population of about 450 million people, is struggling to get its vaccination drive going as it has no supplies and is currently lagging far behind countries like Israel and the UK in delivering vaccines to its citizens.
A view of the central office of the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca as a Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca inspected in Brussels, Belgium on January 28, 2021.
Dursun Aydemir | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
It was first hit by vaccine maker Pfizer-BioNTech, which announced it had to temporarily cut production to improve its production capacity in Belgium. This was then followed by AstraZeneca last Friday to lower its delivery estimates for the region.
An unnamed senior EU official told Reuters the block was expecting about 80 million doses by March, but had been told it would receive just 31 million doses instead. The company has not confirmed the quantities involved.
An increasing dispute between the EU and AstraZeneca has raised concerns about international competition for limited vaccine supplies. Hopefully, the vaccinations can help put an end to the coronavirus pandemic.
– CNBC’s Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.