AstraZeneca has already responded to the violent criticisms advanced by the European Commission, criticizing the European Union for the delays in the delivery of vaccines and that are delaying the inoculation plans in the countries of the European bloc.
In an interview with several European media outlets, cited by Bloomberg, the British pharmaceutical CEO said that in the contract with the European Union, Astrazeneca committed to “best efforts” to deliver the vaccines, but without specifying quantities.
Pascal Soriot says the European Union cannot claim to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine at the same time as the United Kingdom since it only placed orders three months after the British.
Still, the company’s CEO ensures that as soon as the European Union approves the vaccine that was developed with the University of Oxford (what should happen this week), the EU will immediately receive 3 million doses and another 17 million in February.
British company AstraZeneca produces the most economical vaccine for covid-19 and was under EU crossfire after having announced a reduction in deliveries. “The new timetable is not acceptable to the European Union,” said European health commissioner Stella Kyriakides, in a statement published Monday. “The EU wants the ordered and pre-financed doses delivered as early as possible. And we want the contract to be respected in full,” he said. In this sense, “the European Union will take any necessary steps to protect its rights and its citizens”.
Due to this dispute, European and pharmaceutical officials have a meeting scheduled for this Wednesday.
Germany admits to curb vaccine exports
After AstraZeneca cited the lowest production at the factory in Belgium to explain the delays, the European Commission decided to require that all companies producing vaccines in European territory notify the bloc whenever they want to export them. Germany even admits limit export of vaccines outside the EU.
“Vaccines coming out of the European Union (EU) need a license so that at least we know what was produced and what came out of Europe. And that when they come out of Europe, they have a fair distribution,” said the minister of German health, Jens Spahn.
Kyriakides has already sent a letter to AstraZeneca requesting information on exactly how many doses were produced and their destination, pointing out that, so far, “the company’s responses have not been satisfactory”.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is now in the final stage of approval by the European Medicines Agency, which is expected to give the green light by the end of this week.
“Governments are under pressure”
The vaccination plan in the European Union falls far short of that registered in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
In the interview, Soriot says he understands that the situation is difficult for leaders of European countries, which face a strong spread of covid-19. “Governments are under pressure,” he said, recalling that it was the European Commission that was negotiating vaccine purchases for all EU countries.
The AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine has the advantage of being cheaper to produce than those of its competitors and also easier to store and transport, especially in relation to the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, which must be stored at a very low temperature (-70 ° C).
The European Commission has reserved around 400 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is already being used in the United Kingdom.
The coordinator of the covid-19 Vaccination Plan taskforce, Francisco Ramos, guaranteed today that the delay of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine will not compromise the first phase of the Portuguese plan, but will not allow it to be anticipated, admitting a 50% breach than expected.
“We are talking about a delay of more than 50% of what was scheduled [a nível europeu], which in the Portuguese case would mean instead of 1.4 million doses scheduled for February and March, receiving 700 thousand doses [da vacina desenvolvida pela Universidade de Oxford com a farmacêutica AstraZeneca]. It is still possible that this number will be revised upwards. It will be discussed next week at European level “, said Francisco Ramos.
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