BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union is urging AstraZeneca to supply the block with more doses of its COVID-19 vaccine from factories in Europe and Great Britain after the company announced delivery delays, adding to the frustrations on the EU vaccination program.
The EU is conducting more extensive controls on vaccines before they are approved, which means a slower roll-out of injections compared to some other regions, notably the former EU member Great Britain.
The problem was exacerbated by United States’ Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca and Pfizer, both of which have delivered deliveries in recent weeks. The AstraZeneca delay was caused by production problems at a factory in Belgium.
“UK factories are part of our advanced purchase agreement and therefore they have to deliver,” EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides told a press conference, noting that two of the four factories AstraZeneca has committed to supplying vaccines to the EU , in Britain.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it would have been “very unfortunate” if the UK had remained in the European Union’s vaccine program rather than setting up its own plan.
“I think we have been able to do things differently and better in some ways,” he said in parliament.
AstraZeneca, which partnered with the British University of Oxford to develop its vaccine, said last week that it would cut deliveries to the EU in the first quarter, while an EU official said that meant the EU would cut 31 million in that period. doses, or 60% less. than initially agreed due to production problems in a Belgian factory.
The EU has been urging the company for a week to review these cuts, but it is unclear how AstraZeneca can force it to deliver the agreed amounts.
Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca’s French CEO, told newspapers on Tuesday that the EU contract was based on a best effort clause and that the company did not commit to a specific delivery schedule.
Soriot said vaccines intended for the EU were produced in four factories in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy.
But European Commission officials said Wednesday that the company had also committed to supply vaccines under the contract from two factories in Britain.
They added that the firm had not sufficiently explained why doses could not be shipped from supplies in factories that did not experience production problems, such as those in Britain.
Reuters reported exclusively on Tuesday that calls from the EU to divert doses from Britain had not been answered by AstraZeneca.
As an example of how the glitches are biting, delivery delays are forcing health authorities in the wealthiest regions of Spain, Madrid and Catalonia, to restrict vaccinations even as a third wave of contamination rages, officials said.
Adding to the confusion, a plant in Wales producing the AstraZeneca vaccine was partially evacuated Wednesday after it received a suspicious package and police said a bomb disposal unit was working on the incident.
MEETING OR NO MEETING?
The EU has also threatened to monitor future exports of COVID-19 vaccines in retaliation for companies announcing delays, even though the EU Trade Commissioner has ruled out all export bans.
Fraud relations emerged in confusion over the timing of a meeting between the EU and AstraZeneca.
EU officials said the company had withdrawn from a virtual meeting scheduled for Wednesday, an Austrian minister then said it was scheduled for Thursday, which was followed by a statement from AstraZeneca saying it would go ahead as planned on Wednesday.
The EU contract with AstraZeneca is a purchase agreement to supply at least 300 million doses, provided the vaccine is approved as safe and effective, with doses delivered in stages. A decision on approval is scheduled for Friday.
As a further sign of friction, EU officials also said the details revealed by Soriot about the production capacity and the best effort clause were confidential, pointing to the potential breach of contract.
Officials added that the best effort clause was standard in contracts with manufacturers of products under development.
“Best effort is a completely standard clause when you sign a contract with a company for a product that does not yet exist,” said an official. Under these conditions you cannot of course impose an absolute legal obligation.
But the official said the best effort meant the company had to make an “overall” effort to develop and deliver vaccines.
AstraZeneca said Wednesday, “Each supply chain has been developed with input and investment from specific countries or international organizations based on the supply agreements, including our agreement with the European Commission.”
“Since each supply chain is designed to meet the needs of a specific agreement, the vaccine produced from each supply chain is destined for the relevant countries or regions and leverages local production where possible,” the company added .
Philanthropist Bill Gates told Reuters the vaccine rollout was a “super-hard allocation problem” putting pressure on global institutions, governments and drug manufacturers.
If you’re a pharmaceutical company that hasn’t made a vaccine, you’re not under pressure. But the ones who made the vaccine are the ones under attack, ”he said. “It’s all zero sum.”
Reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Ludwig Burger; Additional reporting by Francois Murphy and Kate Kelland; Editing by Nick Macfie and Edmund Blair