Why AstraZeneca and Europe are fighting over vaccines



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The temperature may have cooled slightly after a meeting on Wednesday evening, which both sides described as constructive, but the issue has yet to be resolved and the stakes for EU countries are high.

Here are the battle lines: AstraZeneca says it cannot deliver as many doses as the European Union expected. The European Commission, which ordered the vaccine on behalf of EU member states, says this is unacceptable and the drugmaker must find a way to increase supply.
Tensions eased after Wednesday’s meeting between AstraZeneca and EU officials. European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the discussion with AstraZeneca (AZN) CEO Pascal Soriot had a “constructive tone”, but she asked for more information from the company on its deliveries.

“We regret the persistent lack of clarity on the delivery schedule and ask AstraZeneca for a clear plan for the rapid delivery of the quantity of vaccine for which we have reserved [the first quarter]She said on Twitter.

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The Anglo-Swedish company committed to closer coordination after the meeting.

“We had a constructive and open conversation about the complexities of increasing the production of our vaccine and the challenges we encountered. We committed to even closer coordination to jointly chart the course for the delivery of our vaccine. vaccine over the next few months, ”a spokesperson said.

Numbers

The dispute began on Monday when EU officials said AstraZeneca told them production issues meant the company would deliver “considerably less” doses in the coming weeks than had been agreed.

The European Commission has ordered 400 million doses on behalf of EU member states and is set to start rolling them out across the block once the vaccine is approved, possibly this week.

“Pharmaceutical companies and vaccine developers have moral, societal and contractual responsibilities which they must respect,” Kyriakides told reporters on Wednesday. “The opinion that the company is not obliged to deliver [vaccines] … is neither correct nor acceptable. “

The AstraZeneca vaccine is administered in the United Kingdom.  It is not yet approved in the European Union.
EU officials declined to specify the extent of the AstraZeneca vaccine deficit, and the company did not give details. But the shock came as the European Commission was still trying to assess the impact of Pfizer (PFE) slowing deliveries to the EU of the vaccine it developed with BioNTech while a manufacturing facility was modernized.

What does AstraZeneca say?

Soriot told Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Tuesday that AstraZeneca was unable to guarantee the timing of deliveries to the EU because countries like the UK were faster to finalize orders. There are also crucial differences between the EU and UK vaccination contracts.

“The UK contract was signed first and the UK, of course, said ‘you provide us first,’ and that’s fair enough,” Soriot said. Three months later, when the European Union wanted to be supplied “more or less at the same time” as the United Kingdom, AstraZeneca was unable to make this commitment.

“Our contract [with the European Union] is not a contractual commitment. It’s a better effort. Basically we said we were going to do our best, but we can’t guarantee that we will be successful. In fact, to get there, we are a little late, ”he said.

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The European Union has acknowledged having signed a “best effort” agreement with AstraZeneca.

It is not clear whether EU officials have other cards to play regarding the contract dispute. An EU diplomat noted that the European Union has swiftly initiated legal action in the past and would give instructions to lawyers if it believed AstraZeneca had broken its contract.

Why can’t AstraZeneca make more vaccines or divert supplies?

Soriot admitted in the interview that his company had encountered problems at a large manufacturing plant in Europe. He said the initial phase of vaccine production is often “complicated” and the company is “essentially two months behind” where it wanted to be.

“Would I like to do better? Sure. But, you know, if we deliver in February what we plan to deliver, it’s not a small volume,” Soriot said. “We are planning to deliver millions of doses to Europe, which is not small.”

AstraZeneca said in a statement it has built more than a dozen regional supply chains to produce its vaccine, working with more than 20 partners in more than 15 countries.

“Each supply chain has been developed with the contribution and investment of specific countries or international organizations on the basis of supply agreements, including our agreement with the European Commission,” he said.

The European Union suggested on Wednesday that doses produced at AstraZeneca factories in the UK be used to fulfill its order. AstraZeneca says this can only happen after UK supplies have been delivered.

“As soon as we have reached a sufficient number of vaccinations in the UK, we can also use this site to help Europe,” Soriot said.

Why are the tensions so high?

The pandemic is still raging across Europe and many countries are being criticized for the slow deployment of vaccines.

Germany marked a year since the virus arrived on Wednesday, with the country showing no signs of reducing infections. Earlier this week, Portugal reported a record number of daily deaths in 24 hours. Strict lockdowns are in effect in the countries of the bloc.

Meanwhile, vaccine stocks in Europe are desperately low.

The German government expects the country to face dose shortages for at least another 10 weeks, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday. The country only vaccinated about 2% of its population.

The situation is also dire in parts of Spain. Madrid’s regional government has decided to stop administering the first doses of vaccine for the next two weeks due to growing uncertainty over the supply situation.

“We urgently need more doses,” said Regional Vice President Ignacio Aguado.

The European Union and national governments are therefore under enormous pressure.

“We are in a pandemic. We are losing people every day. These are not numbers, these are not statistics, they are people, with families, friends and colleagues,” Kyriakides said.

– Luke McGee contributed reporting.

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