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On the 29th (local time), the executive committee of the European Union (EU) announced a contract with AstraZeneca, a multinational pharmaceutical company that is struggling with the problem of supplying vaccines for the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) .
According to Bloomberg and Reuters on the 29th, the agreement states that AstraZeneca should make reasonable best efforts to produce vaccines for supply to the EU at production sites in the EU and in the UK.
This is a key issue in the recent dispute between the two parties.
When AstraZeneca announced on the 22nd that the initial European supply would be reduced due to a disruption in Corona 19 vaccine production at its Belgian plant, the EU demanded that the UK-produced vaccine be returned to the EU, causing friction. between the two. sides.
Previously, the EU signed a contract to buy 400 million doses of vaccines with AstraZeneca on behalf of member states. AstraZeneca said it plans to reduce its initial EU supply from 80 million to 31 million.
AstraZeneca said “Best effort”, not a contractual obligation, and insisted that there is no guarantee in the supply contract.
The EU Commission believes that the “I will do my best” clause is just a trade phrase introduced because a vaccine has not yet been developed.
The EU Commission also noted that AstraZeneca has signed a contract to produce vaccines not only within the EU, but also in two factories in the UK.
Regarding this, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pascal Sorio AstraZeneca said in an interview with Develt and others: “The UK signed a supply contract three months before the EU, so there was time to start production earlier. and solve the initial problems. ” in the EU it is two months behind the original plan, ”he said.
As the arguments of the two parties diverged, the EU wanted to reveal the contract, which was published on the same day that AstraZeneca agreed. Parts that contain sensitive information, such as invoice details, have been removed and disclosed.
However, the contract does not state whether AstraZeneca should ship UK-produced vaccines to the EU, Reuters said.
In the midst of this, Belgian health authorities, at the request of the EU Commission, inspected an AstraZeneca vaccine production plant in the country the day before, AFP said.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will announce the conditional sale of the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by the multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
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