Legal actions has been launched against AstraZeneca by the European Commission as they are accusing the pharmaceutical giant for failing to respect the vaccine contract.
They claim that AstraZeneca have breached their contractual obligations to supply European member states with the vaccine.
Stella Kyriakides, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety said, “Our priority is to ensure Covid-19 vaccine deliveries take place to protect the health of [the EU].
“This is why the EU Commission has decided jointly with all Member States to bring legal proceedings against AstraZeneca. Every vaccine dose counts. Every vaccine dose saves lives.”
In the first quarter of the year Brussels claim that AstraZeneca delivered less than 30m of the expected 120m doses that were ordered by the EU.
An EU spokesperson said, “The Commission has started last Friday a legal action against the company AstraZeneca.
“The reason being that some terms of the contract have not been respected and the company has not been in a position to come up with a reliable strategy to ensure the timely delivery of doses.
“What matters to us in this case is we want to make sure there is a speedy delivery of a sufficient number of doses that European citizens are entitled to and which have been promised on the basis of the contract.”
In response, the pharmaceutical company said they “regret” the European Commission’s decision to take legal action.
AstraZeneca said in a statement, “Following an unprecedented year of scientific discovery, very complex negotiations, and manufacturing challenges, our company is about to deliver almost 50m doses to European countries by the end of April, in line with our forecast.
“AstraZeneca has fully complied with the Advance Purchase Agreement with the European Commission and will strongly defend itself in court.
“We believe any litigation is without merit and we welcome this opportunity to resolve this dispute as soon as possible.”
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