EU Sues AstraZeneca after Delays in Vaccine Deliveries

The European Union announced Monday that it had filed a lawsuit against AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm, for consistently under-delivering on its shipments of Covid-19 vaccines to the EU, according to CNN.

The European Union's 27 nations have carried out a slow vaccination scheme, while the company's deliveries to the union have repeatedly fallen tens of millions of doses short of distribution goals negotiated in its deal with the EU.

The EU had placed an initial order for 300 million vaccine doses from the firm, with an additional 100 million doses available as an option.

The company has stated that it would vigorously defend itself in court and that it "regrets" the European Commission's decision to pursue legal action.

The company's inability to produce agreed-upon doses on time has sparked a public feud between AstraZeneca and the EU, which has also drawn in the United Kingdom, which seems to be getting its doses on time.

European Commission's Health Spokesperson, Stefan De Keersmaecker, announced Monday that a complaint had been filed, claiming that the terms of the EU-AstraZeneca deal had "not been upheld," and that the firm had "not been able to come up with a reliable plan to ensure timely delivery of doses."

"What matters to us in this case, is that we want to make sure that there is a speedy delivery of a sufficient number of doses that European citizens are entitled to, and which have been promised on the basis of the contract," he said, adding all 27 countries supported this action.

In a statement on Monday, the company said: "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."

"AstraZeneca has fully complied with the Advance Purchase Agreement with the European Commission and will strongly defend itself in court. We believe any litigation is without merit and we welcome this opportunity to resolve this dispute as soon as possible," it added.