Agreement with EU: Vaccine dispute with AstraZeneca settled

The EU had sued the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for delivering less vaccine than contractually agreed. Now the dispute has been settled – and the delivery of 200 million vaccine doses by April 2022 has been agreed.

The EU Commission and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca have settled their ongoing legal dispute over the delivery of corona vaccination doses out of court. This guarantees the delivery of 135 million vaccine doses in the second half of 2021 alone. A total of 200 million cans should go to the EU by March 2022.

“Although this week we reached the important milestone of fully vaccinating 70 percent of the EU’s adult population, there are huge differences in vaccination rates across our Member States. Continuous availability of vaccines, including AstraZeneca, remains crucial,” said Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides.

Deliveries shortened on one side

The EU Commission took legal action against AstraZeneca at the end of April. The British-Swedish manufacturer had drastically reduced deliveries of corona vaccine to the European Union in the months before. A Belgian court ruled in June that AstraZeneca had seriously breached its contract with the EU. The company itself always denied having broken the contract it had signed with the EU and referred to production problems. With the current agreement, the legal dispute is shelved according to information from both sides.

Exact delivery schedules

AstraZeneca Vice President Ruud Dobber said in a statement that he was delighted “that we have been able to achieve a common understanding that will enable us to move forward with the European Commission and help overcome the pandemic”. The company wants to work closely with the Commission to support the Covax vaccine alliance.

According to its own information, the group undertakes to deliver 60 million vaccine doses by the end of the third quarter of 2021 and 75 million doses by the end of the fourth quarter. “Member States will be provided with regular delivery schedules and limited discounts will apply in the event of late dosing,” the company said.

Produced over a billion cans

According to AstraZeneca, the manufacturer and its partners have made around 1.1 billion cans available to more than 170 countries. About two thirds of this went to poorer countries. In Great Britain, a large part of the population has been immunized with the vaccine.