"Can't Provide Even Half of Contract Volume" vs "Issue of Prioritizing the UK"

EU and AstraZeneca Clash Over COVID-19 Vaccine Supply

Stella Kyriakides, EU Commissioner for Health
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The European Union (EU) has strongly urged AstraZeneca, which announced it would supply less than 40% of the initially promised amount of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine, to fulfill its contract.

Stella Kyriakides, EU Commissioner for Health, said, "AstraZeneca has a legal obligation to follow the contract" and "Please promptly supply the promised amount for the first quarter," Bloomberg reported on the 28th (local time).

AstraZeneca stated that supply delays are due to issues at production facilities within Europe. The EU has demanded that the company supply doses produced in the United Kingdom.

Commissioner Kyriakides argued, "The doses produced at UK factories are part of the European purchase agreement," adding, "Two of the four factories where AstraZeneca agreed to supply vaccines to the EU are located in the UK."

On the other hand, Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca, countered, saying, "Most of the doses produced at UK factories are for UK supply, and the doses for the EU are produced at two factories located in the Netherlands and Belgium, respectively."

The EU also raised suspicions that AstraZeneca, a British pharmaceutical company, deliberately delayed supply to prioritize vaccine delivery to the UK.

When CEO Soriot denied these suspicions by stating, "The UK signed the vaccine supply contract three months earlier than the EU," Commissioner Kyriakides emphasized, "First-come, first-served logic only applies at a butcher shop," and stressed, "AstraZeneca has a moral obligation to treat the EU similarly to the UK."

Bloomberg forecasted, "Europe, where 2.2 people per 100 have been vaccinated, will form herd immunity several months later than the UK, where 10 people per 100 have been vaccinated," and added, "If vaccine supply is delayed, lockdown measures and other restrictions will be extended."