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(adds AstraZeneca comment)
BRUSSELS, March 30 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca has told
the European Union that it has no legal obligations to Britain
or other buyers that would prevent the full supply of COVID-19
doses under its contract with the EU, a European Commission
spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
Her comments at a news conference contradict statements made
by British Health Minister Matt Hancock, who has repeatedly said
the Anglo-Swedish firm has an exclusive deal with Britain that
would justify prioritisation of supplies to the United Kingdom.
"AstraZeneca confirmed to us not being under any obligation
to other parties that would impede to complete the fulfilment of
its obligations" to the EU, the Commission spokeswoman said when
asked about Hancock's statements.
Her statement repeated the main points of article 13.1 of
the EU contract with AstraZeneca, under which the company agreed
not to have any contractual obligations that would limit its
ability to meet EU commitments.
A spokesman for AstraZeneca said "the EU supply chain is
overwhelmingly for the EU". He did not comment on whether UK
factories named in the European Union contract were part of the
EU supply chain.
The EU has launched talks with AstraZeneca under a dispute
resolution mechanism included in its contract after the company
said it would aim to deliver only 100 million doses by the end
of June, instead of 300 million committed to in the EU contract.
The spokeswoman said talks with AstraZeneca were about
making sure the company "make(s) full use of its supply lines
and plants which are identified in our contract" to meet its
obligations to the 27-country EU.
Under the EU contract, AstraZeneca committed to supplying
vaccines produced in four European factories, two of which are
in Britain: Oxford Biomedica and Cobra Biologics.
Britain has so far exported no AstraZeneca vaccines to the
EU, despite EU calls for access to doses produced there.
A third factory, run by AstraZeneca's sub-contractor Halix
in the Netherlands, is also listed in the EU contract as a
supplier of vaccines, but Britain says it is entitled to get
doses from there too.
Despite having committed to delivering many more doses to
the EU than to Britain by the end of March, AstraZeneca has so
far shipped more vaccines to the UK than to the 27 EU countries
combined, public data show.
The EU has blamed big shortfalls of AstraZeneca doses for
its slow vaccine roll-out, which is lagging far behind those in
former member Britain and the United States.
Many European countries briefly stopped using the shot
earlier this month while investigating rare cases of blood clots
but resumed when the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said
benefits of AstraZeneca's vaccine outweighed the risks.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; Editing by
Catherine Evans)
