The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, guest of the “Grand Rendez-vous” on Europe 1, said on Sunday that the European Union would use all the legal means at its disposal to enforce the delivery contracts for the vaccines against the Covid -19.
Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech had indeed unexpectedly announced not to be able to provide the amount of doses to which they had committed, while several laboratories have also announced delays in recent days.
"We intend to enforce contracts that have been validated by pharmaceutical companies and we fully understand that there is transparency as well, using all the legal means at our disposal," explained Charles Michel.
And to add: "We understand well, when there are sectors, companies which must set up production chains, that there can be obstacles.
At some point there may be difficulties in sourcing raw materials.
But what we ask of these companies is a transparent dialogue.
"
He regrets that, faced with the announced delays, the European states have to "roll up their sleeves and fight to have clarity on the reasons" for these delays.
The EU "banged its fist on the table"
Pfizer announced last week that it was slowing down production to change the vaccine manufacturing process so that it can then be speeded up.
This resulted in a drop in deliveries of 200,000 doses in France this week, according to the Ministry of Health.
Italy, for its part, had to reduce the number of daily vaccinations by more than two thirds.
At the same time, the AstraZeneca laboratory, whose vaccine is eagerly awaited by the authorities because it is inexpensive and easily transportable, is likely to deliver its deliveries to the European Union by around 60% in the first quarter due to production problems.
According to Charles Michel, the European Union has already reacted firmly and "banged its fist on the table" after the announcements from the laboratories which, according to him, allowed to limit the slowdowns in deliveries.
The day after Pfizer's announcement, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, phoned the CEO of the laboratory to ask for an explanation of the delivery time.
Since then, the laboratories have since announced a plan to return to the initial schedule of deliveries to the European Union, "from the week of January 25".
Italy and Austria threaten
The EU has signed a total of six vaccine contracts with pharmaceutical companies and is in discussions with two more, for more than 2.5 billion potential doses.
Faced with the delays, several countries have threatened to take legal action, such as Italy.
"The protection of the health of Italian citizens is not negotiable" warned last Wednesday Domenico Arcuri, the boss of the Italian crisis unit for the pandemic.
He added: “The vaccination campaign cannot be slowed down, let alone the administration of the second doses to many Italians who have already received the first.
"
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For his part, the Austrian Minister of Health, Rudolf Anschober, affirmed that his country is "not ready to accept (the delays) and will fight" so that the deliveries are "caught up as quickly as possible".
Agnès Pannier-Runacher was rather reassuring, saying "to be confident" on the vaccination schedule.