The contract signed by London with AstraZeneca has a greater legal weight than the one signed, “months later”, by Brussels. This is the gist of the comment made by the British Minister of Health, Matt Hancock, on the Anglo-Swedish company targeted by the European Commission for the heavy delays in deliveries of the drug. According to data provided today by the community executive, AstraZeneca is expected to deliver 200 million doses less than expected between the first and second quarter of the year. «I believe – said Hancock – that free nations must follow the law. Brussels has a contract based on the best effort clause, we have an exclusive agreement. And our contract prevails over theirs: it’s called contract law, it’s very clear ».
Hancock’s words would have caused some irritation in the EU leaders, engaged in negotiations with London and today gathered in a video-summit of the European Council, with the participation of the US president in the evening Joe Biden. Brussels is increasing pressure and continues to ask for clarification on a shortfall that is obstructing the European vaccination campaign. An EU official told Sole 24 Ore that the Commission has sent AstraZeneca a notification to undertake a dispute resolution, pursuant to the same contract signed by Palazzo Berlaymont with the company. The EU Directorate General for Health and Food Safety should then meet with the company’s top management. The notification was sent after several unsuccessful requests for clarification, the official added.
Loading…
Von der Leyen: 88 million doses delivered, we expect 360 in the second quarter
According to the data released by the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the EU has so far received 88 million doses, administering 62 million. An additional 77 million vaccines were exported overseas.
The pace is slow, compared to the US and UK average, but Brussels hopes for an acceleration in the second quarter of the year. The Commission expects at least 106 million doses to be delivered by the end of the first quarter of 2021, with AstraZeneca being heavily delayed: only 30 million out of 120 which had been guaranteed to the EU, against Pfizer-Biontech’s 66 million out of 65 million and Moderna’s 10 million out of 10 million.
The gap should widen in the second quarter, when the EU expects a total of 360 million doses: 200 million from Pfizer-Biontech, 35 million from Moderna, 55 million from Johnson & Johnson and, indeed, just 70 million out of the 180 planned by AstraZeneca. So far, 18.2 million people have been fully immunized against the disease caused by the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus, with two doses of the vaccine, 18.2 million people, equal to 4.1% of the total EU population.