A panoramic view of the multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca building in Brussels, Belgium. Reuters Yonhap News
The European Union (EU) raised the level of pressure on AstraZeneca, a multinational pharmaceutical company that has been struggling with the delay in vaccine supply. If the supply of the vaccine for the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) is not smooth, it has also announced that it will take legal measures.
According to the Reuters news agency on the 28th (local time), in a letter sent to the top of the four member states, Charles Michel, the executive chairman of the EU summit, proposed “in the event of a serious supply shortage, pharmaceutical companies will take legal action to ensure that the vaccine supply promises” . The letter was sent to Austrian, Czech, Danish and Greek leaders. The position is to negotiate with the vaccine manufacturer, but to review and use all options, including legal means, “if a satisfactory solution cannot be found.”
The conflict between the two sides began last weekend when AstraZeneca notified that it could only deliver 31 million units, which is less than half of its planned supply for the first quarter (80 million units). The EU’s position that it cannot accept breach of contracts, including quarterly delivery plans, but AstraZeneca argued that the plan was not obligatory. AstraZeneca claims that it means “I will try my best”.
In the end, the EU decided to look directly at the vaccine supply issue. On that day, the European Commission, an EU administration, requested the Belgian authorities to inspect one of the AstraZeneca vaccine production plants in Belgium. It is read with the intent to check the problem of shortage. According to AFP, a spokesman for the Belgian Federal Medicines and Health Products Administration said, “The EU Commission has requested an inspection of the production flow and plans to start it in the future.”
Earlier, the EU had a battle by pointing out that vaccines produced by two British factories outside the country should not be provided only to the UK. It is a position that British production should also be brought in to fill the promised quantity. However, AstraZeneca is confronting with “pre-delivery to the UK, which has made a supply contract first.”
The Corona 19 vaccine jointly developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University in the UK is subject to conditional marketing approval review results at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on the 29th.
Azalea reporter [email protected]
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