Keep your supply promises, EU tells vaccine makers as deliveries wobble

Keep your supply promises, EU tells vaccine makers as deliveries wobble Europe urged pharmaceutical companies on Tuesday to honour their commitments to supply coronavirus vaccines, as delivery cuts and delays dim hopes of a quick fix to COVID-19 and increase talk of blocking protectionism and hoarding. Andrius Sytas U.S.

VILNIUS (Reuters) - Europe urged pharmaceutical companies on Tuesday to honour their commitments to supply coronavirus vaccines, as delivery cuts and delays dim hopes of a quick fix to COVID-19 and increase talk of blocking protectionism and hoarding.

Countries around the world, anxious to reboot economies and restart travel by the European summer, hailed the rapid development of vaccines as the best chance of escaping the year-long pandemic, which has killed more than 2.1 million people.

But vaccine roll-outs in the European Union have been slow compared with countries in some other regions and fraught with problems, not least interruptions to supply chains.

AstraZeneca, which developed its shot with Oxford University, said last Friday it would cut supplies to the EU in the first quarter of this year, a move that a senior EU official said meant a 60% reduction to 31 million doses for the bloc.

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer said there would be a temporary impact on shipments in late January to early February.

“Europe invested billions to help develop the world’s first COVID-19 vaccines. To create a truly global common good,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

“And now, the companies must deliver. They must honour their obligations,” the head of the EU executive added.

EU member states could take AstraZeneca to court for breach of supply contracts if it did not honour its schedule, Latvian Foreign Affairs Minister Edgars Rinkevics said.

“The possibility should be evaluated, and it should be coordinated among the EU countries,” the minister told Reuters, via his spokesman.

The European Commission will finalise a proposal by the end of the week to require pharmaceutical firms to register their vaccine exports from the EU, and says it has no plans to impose an export ban. ...