Coronavirus: EU sues AstraZeneca over vaccine delivery delays

The European Union has launched legal action against the coronavirus vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca.

The European Commission – the EU’s executive branch – said it was suing the company for not respecting its vaccine supply contract, and for not having a “reliable” plan to ensure timely deliveries.

AstraZeneca said the move was “without merit”.

It said it would “strongly defend itself in court”.

The legal action marks an escalation in a long-running dispute between the two sides over the supply of coronavirus vaccines.

Some in the bloc have claimed that AstraZeneca has shown preferential treatment to the UK – but the company has denied this.

  • Why is the EU unhappy with AstraZeneca?
  • Covid map: Where are cases the highest?
  • EU hints at summer return for US travellers

Meanwhile, the US has announced that it will share up to 60 million doses of its AstraZeneca vaccine with other countries as they become available. The doses will be able to be exported in the coming months after a federal safety review, AP news agency reports.

What do we know about the legal action?

A European Commission spokesman said the action was launched on Friday, with the backing of all 27 member states.

It stems from a deal the commission signed last August for 300 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, with an option for 100 million more.

Earlier this year, AstraZeneca said its supplies would be reduced because of production problems. Of 80 million doses planned for delivery in the first quarter of 2021, only about 30 million were sent.

According to the European Commission, the company is set to provide 70 million doses in the second quarter of 2021 instead of the 180 million that were initially arranged.

“The terms of the contract, or some terms of the contract, have not been respected,” the spokesman said. “We want to make sure that there’s a speedy delivery of a sufficient number of doses… which have been promised on the basis of the contract.”

Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides tweeted that the commission’s priority was to “ensure Covid-19 vaccine deliveries take place to protect the health of the European Union”.

“Every vaccine dose counts. Every vaccine dose saves lives,” she wrote.

One EU official told Reuters news agency that the move was taken to “send a message” to AstraZeneca’s chief executive Pascal Soriot.

 “We want to make sure that there’s a speedy delivery of a sufficient number of doses…
which have been promised on the basis of the contract.”


Global vaccine rollout

Scroll table
World
12.5
972,990,420
US
65.5
218,947,643
China
14.7
212,507,974
India
9.6
132,754,608
UK
66.5
44,450,252
Brazil
16.5
35,024,957
Germany
29.0
24,286,909
Turkey
24.6
20,728,975
France
26.8
18,284,330
Indonesia
6.6
17,920,908
Russia
11.8
17,218,313
Italy
27.0
16,316,820
Mexico
12.0
15,477,517
Spain
29.8
13,909,964
Chile
71.8
13,722,557
Canada
29.6
11,158,636
Israel
119.9
10,379,693
United Arab Emirates
101.1
10,001,241
Poland
25.9
9,806,966
Morocco
24.2
8,914,956
Saudi Arabia
22.3
7,767,501
Bangladesh
4.7
7,746,661
Argentina
14.8
6,693,438
Hungary
51.8
4,999,342
Netherlands
28.4
4,873,624
Romania
23.3
4,487,643
Colombia
8.1
4,131,008
Belgium
28.2
3,272,118
Serbia
46.7
3,176,769
Portugal
27.7
2,829,406
Czech Republic
25.4
2,719,610
Sweden
26.8
2,711,601
Greece
26.0
2,708,780
Austria
29.9
2,693,775
Japan
2.0
2,517,045
Singapore
37.8
2,213,888
South Korea
4.1
2,114,700
Switzerland
24.2
2,091,809
Nepal
6.7
1,966,506
Cambodia
11.0
1,845,972
Australia
7.0
1,785,338
Denmark
29.2
1,691,219
Philippines
1.5
1,612,420
Finland
28.4
1,570,979
Uruguay
44.0
1,529,024
Dominican Republic
13.9
1,509,898
Norway
26.7
1,447,305
Slovakia
25.5
1,392,593
Azerbaijan
13.6
1,381,967
Qatar
46.7
1,345,423
Peru
4.0
1,333,570
Ireland
25.1
1,240,965
Malaysia
3.7
1,210,779
Bahrain
67.6
1,149,633
Nigeria
0.6
1,148,168
Myanmar
1.9
1,040,000
Kazakhstan
5.1
956,101
Sri Lanka
4.3
925,242
Lithuania
31.1
847,735
Ghana
2.7
842,521
Pakistan
0.4
800,000
Kenya
1.4
750,471
Croatia
18.2
746,878
Jordan
7.2
732,052
Bulgaria
10.1
698,517
Costa Rica
13.7
698,327
Iran
0.8
667,202
Thailand
1.0
666,210
Mongolia
19.8
649,236
Bolivia
5.3
619,794
Kuwait
14.2
604,861
Ecuador
3.4
601,229
Slovenia
27.1
562,457
Panama
12.9
555,898
Ukraine
1.2
508,049
Bhutan
62.1
479,354
Uzbekistan
1.4
458,555
Ethiopia
0.4
430,000
Angola
1.2
395,447
Senegal
2.3
392,439
Estonia
29.1
385,612
Albania
13.3
382,998
Lebanon
5.5
372,427
Zimbabwe
2.4
351,799
Maldives
64.7
349,757
Rwanda
2.7
349,702
Tunisia
2.7
316,580
Malta
66.9
295,587
South Africa
0.5
292,623
Malawi
1.4
267,293
Uganda
0.6
253,562
Venezuela
0.9
250,000
Oman
4.8
244,821
Latvia
12.8
240,822
Afghanistan
0.6
240,000
Cyprus
25.1
219,654
Palestinian Territories
4.0
206,354
El Salvador
3.1
200,000
Iraq
0.5
197,914
New Zealand
3.8
183,351
Luxembourg
27.2
170,038
Egypt
0.2
164,534
Guatemala
0.9
162,110
Togo
1.9
160,000
Laos
1.9
137,026
Jamaica
4.6
135,473
Vietnam
0.1
128,610
Somalia
0.7
117,567
Mauritius
9.2
117,323
Seychelles
118.9
116,957
Guinea
0.9
116,113
Guinea
0.9
116,113
Iceland
33.2
113,330
Moldova
2.7
109,899
Ivory Coast
0.4
109,077
Sudan
0.2
100,010
Paraguay
1.3
93,111
Algeria
0.2
75,000
Guyana
9.4
73,600
Barbados
24.8
71,350
Isle of Man
79.9
67,915
Gibraltar
200.0
67,366
Belarus
0.7
66,618
Cayman Islands
97.0
63,774
Nicaragua
0.9
61,625
Montenegro
9.3
58,150
Honduras
0.6
57,639
Mozambique
0.2
57,305
Fiji
6.2
56,000
Equatorial Guinea
4.0
55,799
Bermuda
84.0
52,337
Guernsey
69.5
46,587
North Macedonia
2.2
44,974
Sierra Leone
0.6
44,347
Taiwan
0.2
39,221
Belize
9.6
38,211
Suriname
6.1
35,777
Georgia
0.8
33,337
Eswatini
2.7
31,846
Botswana
1.3
31,628
Antigua and Barbuda
30.4
29,754
Andorra
34.2
26,414
Mali
0.1
26,226
Turks and Caicos Islands
62.8
24,300
San Marino
71.5
24,262
Saint Lucia
13.0
23,829
Monaco
58.5
22,953
Dominica
25.6
18,423
Gambia
0.7
16,735
Trinidad and Tobago
1.2
16,462
Kosovo
0.000
16,132
Lesotho
0.7
16,000
Faroe Islands
31.8
15,531
Bahamas
3.8
15,000
Bosnia and Herzegovina
0.5
15,000
Congo
0.3
14,297
St Vincent and the Grenadines
11.5
12,764
Greenland
21.9
12,434
Saint Kitts and Nevis
21.5
11,451
Djibouti
1.0
10,246
Grenada
8.7
9,821
Sao Tome and Principe
4.4
9,724
Liechtenstein
23.2
8,860
Anguilla
38.9
5,835
Gabon
0.3
5,762
Namibia
0.2
4,748
Saint Helena
75.3
4,572
Falkland Islands
126.5
4,407
Zambia
0.018
3,391
Mauritania
0.063
2,930
Timor-Leste
0.2
2,629
Syria
0.014
2,500
Brunei
0.5
2,323
Cape Verde
0.4
2,184
Kyrgyzstan
0.032
2,100
Solomon Islands
0.3
2,000
Montserrat
35.0
1,751
Niger
0.006
1,366
Papua New Guinea
0.012
1,081
South Sudan
0.009
947
Libya
0.011
750
Armenia
0.019
565
Tonga
0.5
500
Cameroon
0.002
400
Nauru
1.6
168
Benin
0
0
British Indian Ocean Territory
0
0
British Virgin Islands
0
0
Burkina Faso
0
0
Burundi
0
0
Central African Republic
0
0
Chad
0
0
Comoros
0
0
Cook Islands
0
0
Cuba
0
0
DR Congo
0
0
Eritrea
0
0
Guinea-Bissau
0
0
Haiti
0
0
Kiribati
0
0
Liberia
0
0
Madagascar
0
0
Niue
0
0
North Korea
0
0
Pitcairn
0
0
Samoa
0
0
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
0
0
Tajikistan
0
0
Tanzania
0
0
Tokelau
0
0
Turkmenistan
0
0
Tuvalu
0
0
Vanuatu
0
0
Vatican
0
0
Yemen
0
0

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“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,” the British-Swedish company said.

“We are making progress addressing the technical challenges and our output is improving, but the production cycle of a vaccine is very long which means these improvements take time to result in increased finished vaccine doses,” the statement read.

AstraZeneca had previously said that the contract obliged the company to make its “best effort” to meet EU demand, without compelling it to stick to a specific timetable.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman told reporters he was unaware of the specifics around the legal action. He said AstraZeneca had been a “hugely strong partner for the UK and in fact, globally, for the work they’re doing”.

Under the contract, any legal action would need to be resolved by Belgian courts.

The EU originally planned to use AstraZeneca as the main vaccine in its rollout, but following the supply issues, the bloc now relies mostly on the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.

Despite vaccine delays, the EU is still aiming for “a minimum of 70% of the entire adult population” to have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine by this summer.

What is happening with Covid in Europe?

The announcement of legal action on Monday came as some countries began to ease restrictions.

Millions of French children returned to the classroom, as primary schools and nurseries reopened following a three-week shutdown. In Italy, restaurants and bars in much of the country were allowed to serve customers outside, while hairdressers in Belgium reopened their doors.

Meanwhile, the mayor of the Spanish city of Pamplona announced that the annual Sanfermín fiesta in July – with its famous running of the bulls – would be cancelled for a second year.

Outside of the EU, Turkey announced a coronavirus lockdown until 17 May in a bid to curb a surge in coronavirus cases and deaths.

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