Comments
AstraZeneca and the European Commission have settled a vaccine supply agreement to the region, the company said, ending litigation against it.
Having ironed out issues involving execution of an Advance Purchase Agreement for the delivery of its Covid vaccine, Vaxzevria, AZ said it now commits “to delivering 60 million doses of the vaccine by the end of the third quarter of 2021, 75 million by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 and 65 million by the end of the first quarter of 2022”. Member states will be provided with regular delivery schedules, and capped rebates will apply in the event of any delayed doses, it added.
Legal proceedings by the European Commission against AZ were had been initiated in Brussels on 21 April 21. 2021. Court hearings were scheduled for September-end.
Ruud Dobber, AZ Executive V-P (BioPharmaceuticals Business Unit), said they were committed to the manufacture of Vaxzevria for Europe “following the release for supply of more than 140 million doses to date at no profit”. He also indicated to working with the European Commission to support Covax, a World Health Organization-supported facility.
The development in Europe does not involve India’s Serum Institute, which makes and distributes the AZ-OxfordUniversity vaccine in India and low- and middle-income countries. However, exports from SII, too, have been a point of concern for Covax and GAVI, the vaccine alliance, which distributes these vaccines to several under-served regions.
Recently, WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan had told BusinessLine after her meeting with Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya that exports were expected to resume by October-November, once the supply situation in India was sufficient to meet domestic needs. India had stopped vaccine exports, as Covid-19 cases surged in the country earlier this year.
To date, AZ and its partners have supplied more than 1.1 billion doses of vaccine to over 170 countries; approximately two thirds have gone to LMICs, the company said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.