Icon: enlarge
The headquarters of the pharmaceutical company AstraZenica in Macclesfield, England
Photo: Christopher Furlong / Getty Images
The European Union and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca argue on the open stage about the corona vaccine.
The reason: The pharmaceutical company should be able to deliver large quantities of its agent for Germany and other EU countries probably weeks or months later.
No solution could be found in a crisis discussion between the two sides on Wednesday evening.
"We regret the continued lack of clarity on the delivery schedule," said EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides in a tweet, adding that the EU is demanding a clear plan from AstraZeneca for the fast delivery of the vaccine doses that it has reserved for the first quarter .
However, she praised the constructive tone of the conversation with company boss Pascal Soriot, who had joined in personally.
The dispute began on Friday with the announcement by the British-Swedish manufacturer that after the approval of the vaccine, which is expected for this week, it will deliver far less to the EU than promised.
Figures were given by EU politicians: instead of the expected 80 million vaccine doses in the first quarter, only 31 million would come.
On Wednesday an EU representative indicated that the dimension is even bigger.
A "three-digit number" was expected and only a quarter of it was delivered.
The EU Commission and the 27 EU states have been putting the company under pressure for days.
The EU has a framework agreement for a total of 400 million vaccine doses from AstraZeneca.
So that the funds can already be delivered upon approval, the company has been promised 336 million euros to increase production.
According to the EU reading, it should have produced on stockpile.
Now the EU asks: where is the vaccine?
The reason given by AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot is that the EU concluded its contract later than Great Britain, where the AstraZeneca funds are already being used (read more here).
There are suspicions in Brussels that bottlenecks in supplying the European Union with the vaccine could be due to the company supplying the UK and other non-EU countries with unreduced quantities of the vaccine.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not want to get involved in this debate.
It is a matter between the EU and AstraZeneca, said Johnson in London, adding: "We are very confident about our supplies and our contracts."
Icon: The mirror
kim / dpa