The European Union is demanding that AstraZeneca use its six manufacturing sites to deliver the remaining 90 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine out of the 120 million provided for in the contract between the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical group and the European Commission, under the threat of a daily penalty payment of €10 million.
“The aim of the penalties sought is not to obtain financial compensation for a loss, but to force AstraZeneca to provide the promised vaccines as quickly as possible”, said Rafael Jafferali of the European Commission, reported AFP on Thursday 27 May.
Furthermore, the EU institution is seeking cumulative financial compensation of €10 per dose per day of delay for failure to meet the 30 June and 30 September delivery deadlines.
AstraZeneca denies any breach of its vaccine sales contract, arguing that it does its best to meet delivery volumes and that the contract does not contain binding delivery deadlines.
The Belgian courts, which began hearing the case on Wednesday 26 May, could take a decision in the second half of June.
Three of the six plants mentioned are located in the EU (Belgium, Netherlands, Italy), two in the UK, and one in the US. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)