New legal action by the EU Commission against AstraZeneca. After the decision not to renew the contract for new supplies of anti-Covid vaccines from the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical, Brussels has filed an urgent appeal in Belgium for non-compliance with the deliveries of Vaxzevria. “We demanded that the company be ordered to deliver 90 million doses that should have been delivered by the end of the first quarter, a period in which we only received 30 million, when we should have received 120 million, explains the spokesperson for the Commission. la Salute Stefan de Keersmaecker, during the press briefing in Brussels Read also “We don’t want to turn the press room into a court – says de Keersmaecker – these proceedings are public and can be followed up. We insist on the delivery of a sufficient number of doses: we believe that the company has not complied with the conditions and obligations set out in the contract, which constitutes a violation that we ask the court to recognize as such “.” But, once again – he continues – the spokesperson – we believe the contract has been breached and we expect the company to comply with the terms of the contract. Our goal is always the same: we want AstraZeneca to deliver the doses we believe we are entitled to on the basis of the advance purchase agreement. “Vaccinations, continues de Keersmaecker,” are ongoing and Member States need the vaccines. This is the purpose of our actions, which are translated into two specific legal proceedings “, the first of which is a lawsuit, started on 23 April,” to have an emergency injunction. In the context of this proceeding, we ask the judge the urgency of the situation, the fact that it is important to have the vaccines quickly “. In the context of this procedure, the spokesperson continues, the Commission asks the Court to” recognize this urgency and ensure that we get the vaccines. The second procedure has the same objective: this also wants to ensure that we receive the doses to which we are entitled, but it is a procedure that judges on the merits, in which the aim is to ascertain whether there has been a violation of the advance purchase agreement ” or not. “We believe – he continues – that AstraZeneca has not respected the conditions of the contract. We are not here to ask for financial compensation, but to get the doses. And to do this, we asked the judge to impose the delivery of the doses: and this can also happen by imposing a sanction, the aim of which is to ensure that the doses are delivered. But the goal is not money or launching a punitive action, but getting the doses, which is the goal from the beginning “. In the emergency procedure, continues de Keersmaecker,” we ask for the delivery of these 90 million doses that should have been delivered by the end of the first trimester, a period in which we only received 30 million doses, when we should have received 120 million. But we think that the company has not respected the terms of the contract and for this we ask for this delivery. “The case of merit” takes more time “and aims to ascertain whether there has been a violation of the pre-purchase agreement.” We don’t have all this time : we want the doses to be delivered and this is the goal of the emergency procedure “, concludes the spokesperson.
