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* EU has been slower than others to rollout vaccinations
* Anglo-Swedish firm blames issues with its Belgian plant
* Third of planned EU doses to be delivered in first quarter
* Tensions show in confusion over EU-AstraZeneca meeting
(Adds background)
By Francesco Guarascio and Ludwig Burger
BRUSSELS, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The European Union is asking
AstraZeneca to publish the vaccine supply contract it
signed with the bloc, an EU official said on Wednesday, amid
frustration about delivery delays.
The EU has been slow to rollout vaccination programmes
compared with some other regions, especially former EU member
Britain. The issue has been exacerbated by AstraZeneca and
Pfizer both announcing delivery holdups in recent weeks.
Pascal Soriot, the French chief executive of the
Anglo-Swedish drugsmaker AstraZeneca, told newspapers on Tuesday
the EU contract was based on a best-effort clause and did not
commit the company to a specific timetable for deliveries.
AstraZeneca, which partnered Britain's Oxford University to
develop a vaccine, has said it was cutting supplies to the EU in
the first quarter due to production issues at its Belgian
factory. An EU official said the EU would receive 31 million
doses in the period, or 60% less than initially agreed.
The EU has said this sudden revision was unacceptable and is
pushing the company to find ways to deliver more. The EU deemed
"inadequate" a subsequent offer to ramp up supplies in February
and bring forward the first deliveries.
The EU has threatened to monitor future exports of COVID-19
vaccines in retaliation for companies announcing delays,
although the EU trade commissioner ruled out any export bans.
Fraught relations showed up in confusion about the timing of
a meeting between the EU and AstraZeneca.
An EU official said the firm had pulled out of a meeting
scheduled for Wednesday, an Austrian minister then said it was
set for Thursday, which was followed by an AstraZeneca statement
saying it would go ahead on Wednesday as planned.
The EU contract with AstraZeneca is an advance purchase
agreement for the supply of at least 300 million doses provided
the vaccine is approved as safe and effective, with doses
delivered in stages.
The EU official said on Wednesday details revealed by Soriot
on production capacity and best-effort clause were confidential.
The official said the best-effort clause was standard in
contracts with manufacturers of products in development.
"Best effort is a completely standard clause when you are
signing a contract with a company for a product that does not
yet exist," the official said. "Obviously you cannot put a
completely legal obligation" under these conditions.
But the official said best effort meant the company had to
show an "overall" effort to develop and deliver vaccines.
AstraZeneca said on Wednesday: "Each supply chain was
developed with input and investment from specific countries or
international organisations based on the supply agreements,
including our agreement with the European Commission."
"As each supply chain has been set up to meet the needs of a
specific agreement, the vaccine produced from any supply chain
is dedicated to the relevant countries or regions and makes use
of local manufacturing wherever possible," the firm added.
Philanthropist Bill Gates told Reuters the rollout of
vaccines was a "super hard allocation problem" that was putting
pressure on global institutions, governments and drugmakers.
"Every politician is under pressure to go bid for their
country to get further up in line," Gates said.
"If you're a pharma company that didn't make a vaccine,
you're not under pressure. But the ones who did make the vaccine
- they are the ones being attacked," he said. "It's all very
zero-sum."
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Ludwig Burger; Additional
reporting by Francois Murphy and Kate Kelland; Editing by Nick
Macfie and Edmund Blair)
