EU sues AstraZeneca over delayed COVID vaccine doses
May 11, 2021
The European Union launched legal action Tuesday to force AstraZeneca to deliver millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses by July.
It is the second lawsuit the bloc has filed against the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company over delayed vaccine supply.
"We want the court to order the company to deliver 90 million additional doses, in addition to the 30 million already delivered in the first quarter," EU spokesman Stefan De Keersmaecker told a media conference.
Case for the defense
The pharma giant's lawyer said on Tuesday the new legal action was unwarranted given that there was already one lawsuit underway.
AstraZeneca had originally committed to deliver 300 million doses from December to the end of June, but has delayed shipments meaning only 50 million doses have arrived so far.
AstraZeneca's aim is to ship 100 million shots in total by the end of June, well below the EU's latest demand.
The company's lawyer said AstraZeneca complied with the contract it had with the bloc because it was not obliged to deliver the entire volume of doses, claiming it had only committed to doing its "best reasonable efforts."
jsi/rt (AFP, Reuters)