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BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union is pressuring pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to provide more doses of the coronavirus vaccine to the bloc and to deliver on its initial promises once the jab obtains the approval of the EU, especially since the bloc has already invested in improving its production capacity.
Already criticized for a slow deployment of vaccines in the 27 member countries, the European Commission also wants a transparency register to register and approve all exports of vaccines out of EU countries to third countries.
“We, as the EU, need to be able to know if and which vaccines are exported from the EU,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn. “Only in this way will we be able to understand whether our European contracts with producers are served fairly. The requirement to obtain approval for vaccine exports at EU level makes sense. “
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held urgent talks Monday with company chief Pascal Soriot, and EU countries are also meeting with AstraZeneca to encourage the Anglo-Swedish company to step up production vaccines and meet its contractual objectives.
The EU, with the economic and political clout of the world’s largest trading bloc, lags far behind countries like Israel and Britain in deploying vaccines for its most vulnerable population and health workers . The leaders of the bloc have come under heavy criticism for progressing so slowly.
The European Medicines Agency is due to review the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine on Friday and its approval is eagerly awaited. The AstraZeneca vaccine is already in use in Britain and has been approved for emergency use by half a dozen countries, including India, Pakistan, Argentina and Mexico.
AstraZeneca’s announcement of rapid delivery of fewer vaccines to the EU has only increased pressure on the 27-nation bloc, especially as Pfizer-BioNTech, the first vaccine to gain approval of the EU, failed last week to maintain its promised deliveries to the EU. . Pfizer temporarily reduced vaccine shipments to the EU and Canada by upgrading its factory in Belgium to increase overall production. Italy has threatened to sue Pfizer for the delays.
Political pressure prompted the European Commission, which is the EU’s executive, to act on Monday, with von der Leyen’s phone call to the head of AstraZeneca.
“She clarified that she expects AstraZeneca to respect the contractual provisions set out in the advance purchase agreement,” said spokesperson Eric Mamer.
“She reminded Mr Soriot that the EU had invested large sums in the company from the start, precisely to ensure that production was accelerated even before the conditional marketing authorization was issued by the company. ‘European Medicines Agency.’
Of course, production problems can arise with the complex vaccine, but we expect the company to find solutions and to exploit all possible flexibilities to deliver quickly.
The delays will make it more difficult to meet the first targets of the EU’s target of vaccinating 70% of its adult population by the end of the summer.
European Council President Charles Michel said the EU had already “put its fist on the table” with Pfizer last week to ensure the delays end by the end of this week.
The EU has signed six vaccine contracts for more than 2 billion doses, but only Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been approved to date.
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Geir Moulson contributed to this report from Berlin.
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