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* Settlement brings doses delivered to 300 million as agreed
* Agreement will also end pending litigation in Brussels
* Capped rebates on vaccine will apply if doses are delayed
(Writes through with detail)
Sept 3 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca and the European
Commission and have reached a settlement on the delivery of
pending COVID-19 vaccine doses by the drugmaker, ending a row
about shortages that had weighed on the company and the region's
vaccination campaign.
The dispute plunged the European Union into crisis earlier
this year as states, under pressure to speed up vaccinations,
scrambled for shots. It also caused a public relations crisis
for AstraZeneca, which is led by Frenchman Pascal Soriot.
Brussels has since reduced its reliance on the Anglo-Swedish
drugmaker, with vaccine supplies coming from Pfizer/BioNTech
, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson
.
Under Friday's settlement https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2021/astrazeneca-and-european-commission-reach-settlement-agreement-over-vaccine-supply-ending-litigation.html,
AstraZeneca has committed to deliver 60 million doses of its
vaccine, Vaxzevria, by the end of the third quarter this year,
75 million by the end of the fourth quarter and 65 million by
the end of the first quarter of 2022.
The European Commission launched legal action against
AstraZeneca in April https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-sues-astrazeneca-over-delayed-deliveries-covid-19-vaccine-2021-04-26
for not respecting its contract for the supply of COVID-19
vaccines and for not having a "reliable" plan to ensure timely
deliveries.
The EU's executive body said https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_4561
that under the new agreement, member states would be provided
with regular delivery schedules and if there were any delayed
doses, capped rebates would be applied.
VACCINATION RATES
"There are significant differences in vaccination rates
between our member states, and the continued availability of
vaccines, including AstraZeneca's, remain crucial," said EU
Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides.
The EU settlement allows for distribution while the
highly-contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is causing a
spike in cases and vaccines are being studied for longevity of
protection.
"I'm very pleased that we have been able to reach a common
understanding which allows us to move forward and work in
collaboration with the European Commission to help overcome the
pandemic," said AstraZeneca senior executive Ruud Dobber.
The European Commission said this week that 70% of the
European Union's adult population had been fully vaccinated
against COVID-19, hitting a target it set at the beginning of
the year.
About 92 million doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine have been
distributed to EU member states so far, according to the
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. That is far
below the 437 million doses delivered by Pfizer/BioNTech.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru, Keith Weir in
London and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Shounak
Dasgupta and Edmund Blair)
