AstraZeneca says EU loses legal bid for more vaccine

[EasterIssland]

AstraZeneca says EU loses legal bid for more vaccine supplies by end-June

AstraZeneca (AZN.L) on Friday said the European Union had lost a legal case against the pharmaceutical firm over the supply of COVID-19 vaccines as a court in Brussels rejected an EU request for more deliveries by the end of June.

The Anglo-Swedish firm committed in a contract to do its best to deliver to the 27-nation bloc 300 million doses by the end of June, but production problems led the pharmaceutical company to revise down its target to 100 million vaccines.

The cuts in the supplies delayed the EU's vaccination drive in the first quarter of the year, when the bloc had initially bet on AstraZeneca to deliver the largest volume of jabs. That led to a bitter dispute and to the EU's legal action to get at least 120 million doses by the end of June.

But the judge said the company should only deliver 80.2 million doses by a deadline of Sept. 27, AstraZeneca said.

www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/astrazeneca-says-eu-loses-legal-bid-more-vaccine-supplies-by-end-june-2021-06-18/

Maybe not if they can/do pursue damages based on a finding that AZ was in breach of contract.

@Willowowisp

The incidence here is higher because we already have the delta. What will happen when that starts to spread more across the EU. The wish to keep the southern European tourist resorts functioning will spread all sorts of variants.

Other countries already have delta. In Germany is going up and they’ve said they expect it to be the main one in autumn. In Spain cases from delta keep appearing as well its not as dominant as in the uk

@Marty13

I do think the UK has been unpleasantly smug ever since the vaccination race started, and that if the situations were reversed there would be bitter complaints about AZ breaching their obligations on here.

Yep. Quite right.

In most other countries it would be described as patriotic, or giving appreciation where it was due.

But in the UK, though I suspect many mean England, we're just smug saddoes!

@Cailleach1

Maybe not if they can/do pursue damages based on a finding that AZ was in breach of contract.

What were they pursuing in this case? Not damages?

@Motorina

You see, I just don't understand this argument at all. ....The graphs are running roughly parallel - there's certainly no sense that the EU are closing the gap. France and the EU are not outstripping the UK; they're lagging badly behind.

Well recently the French daily rate has been, on and off, significantly higher than the UK on occasions..but that aside there's much more to this than figures/graphs, but I'm not sure HMG and others have grasped that....

We (in France) aren't walking around going because of the 23%, it isn't even on most people's radar...what we do know is that in our family all the older members of the family have been fully vaccinated (Pfizer X2), younger members in their twenties are in between Pfizer 1 and 2.

We've had an early release from mask wearing in the streets and curfew...sun is shining and overseas travel is on the cards....

We know there's the risk of Delta spoiling the party but ATM there's a feel good going into summer that very much seems to be missing in reports UK - looking from the outside it does appear there's an obsession when the next lockdown will happen.......

Just to chip in with a final general point there is no way countries are going to leave the EU over the AZ issue or the vaccine procurement programme.

@MarshaBradyo I believe Eu wanted 120m doses in this request

We know there's the risk of Delta spoiling the party but ATM there's a feel good going into summer that very much seems to be missing in reports UK - looking from the outside it does appear there's an obsession when the next lockdown will happen.......

This is silly imo.

Majority are desperate for what has been dubbed ‘freedom day’

It got delayed by four weeks and people are a bit miffed. Everyone wants the restrictions to lift.

This really is a crazy view point and I have no idea why you have it.

[quote EasterIssland]@MarshaBradyo I believe Eu wanted 120m doses in this request[/quote]
Ok thanks. So if I’ve read correctly they now owe 10m

And according to pp can be sued for damages, but hopefully won’t go ahead

I think the EU victory lies in the finding by the court that AZ's conduct was inconsistent with the best reasonable efforts terms in the contract.
So although EU did not get the order they wanted at this hearing (the court ordered the delivery of lesser quantities than EU had asked for) they still have (i) a lesser remedy (order for delivery of lesser quantities) and (ii) a useful finding which may I imagine help them in their damages claim (not yet ruled on)
Article in FT explains (somewhat): on.ft.com/3qbQ1JQ

@MarshaBradyo some posters in mn are looking forward to a lockdown so they can tell you “I told you so”. Remember 100k by 21-06? There are some threads about next lockdown already in mn. So you can get the feeling that some people are afraid of a new lockdown

Easter I agree a few are obsessed with lockdown on here but it’s not representative. Hardly any of the site is these days with high proportion talking about no vaccine / lockdown or whatever.

Most people want restrictions to lift, looking forward to it and are taking the vaccine.

@loginfail except it isn't. If you look, again, at our worldindata, the daily vaccines doses/100 people are pretty much level pegging. Yes, France is slightly up at the moment. But only slightly. And doses in both countries fluctuate significantly, so one day one is ahead and the next the other is.

I can't argue for the differences in perception or the feel good factor between the two countries. But the argument that France is "outstripping" the UK on vaccines given is simply not born out by the data. France has vaccinated approximately half as many of it's population as the UK has. I'm delighted that you're feeling good about this but, when it comes to disease spread, graphs and data - not positive feelings - really do matter.

One positive thing for the French/Spanish etc rollout to come out of all of this, is that given the 3 week Pfizer gap instead of the 12 week AstraZeneca one, people will be vaccinated much faster. DH, early 30s, hasn’t been called for a first dose yet, but now it’s pfizer he’ll be double dosed by the end of July, whereas he was expecting it to be October before his second AZ jab.

I think its a bit concerning that France is vaccinating such a young age group. They still have a massive way to go and there are so many people still at higher risk who have not been vaccinated

I really don’t think people are going to want to leave the EU over this! In my country AZ is seen as the inferior cousin - I think people in their 50s are the only ones being given it and there was some noise in the press about how unfair it was to force them to take it rather than an alternative.

But the argument that France is "outstripping" the UK on vaccines given is simply not born out by the data. France has vaccinated approximately half as many of it's population as the UK has. I'm delighted that you're feeling good about this but, when it comes to disease spread, graphs and data - not positive feelings - really do matter.

Just to be clear I certainly didn't use the word "outstripping"....I did however point out that on occasions recently the French daily vaccination rate has been higher than the UK one..point of fact.

This really is a crazy view point and I have no idea why you have it.

Because I have friends and relatives in both France and UK...

The difference in their expectations with regard to this summer and what lies beyond is very interesting.

@loginfail

This really is a crazy view point and I have no idea why you have it.

Because I have friends and relatives in both France and UK...

The difference in their expectations with regard to this summer and what lies beyond is very interesting.

Oh well your U.K. friends don’t chime with what majority are looking forward to.

@loginfail my apologies. Outstripping was used by @Humphriescushion, who I was quoting in my initial post on it.

You are quite correct. For most of the past two weeks, France has nudged slightly ahead of the U.K. in terms of doses given per day. Thankfully! Finally! Because it has been woefully behind up till now, and has an awfully long way to go.

Graphs attached.

Don't know anyone in europe who wants AZ.

def has an image problem, seen as inferior (by some) in the UK too.

As for opening up, who knows, we all have out own perspective - mine is we will be back in LD v soon, NHS can't cope with even small increases in admissions.

EU messed up on this, shouldn't have pursued a marginal case.

Finally! Because it has been woefully behind up till now, and has an awfully long way to go.

Well, this is the reason the EU says it took AZ to court - because it couldn't supply member states with the number of vaccines they'd contracted.

The EU lawyers said bringing the case had made AZ speed up their EU delivery, so they got part of what they needed that way, before the judgement was even made.

This article puts both sides of the court case well. It also compares the wildly different press releases from each side!
www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/corona-impfstoff-urteil-gegen-astra-zeneca-warum-die-eu-vorerst-trotzdem-nicht-mehr-impfstoff-bekommt/27302118.html?ticket=ST-15812333-h2ur6bJApxBSDnoouNMI-ap6

It says the court found AZ should "interpret the "best effort" clause in such a way that production sites on British soil are also included."

"Astra-Zeneca boss Pascal Soriot has now admitted that he gave the British government preferential rights. Since he did not disclose this to the EU, this cannot be a reason to subordinate supply to the EU either, according to the court."

It says that the court finding in favour of the EU in these points is politically important: "It thus shows that the delays are not due to a negotiating error on the EU side, but to unlawful behaviour by Astra-Zeneca."

@Bluethrough

Don't know anyone in europe who wants AZ.

def has an image problem, seen as inferior (by some) in the UK too.

As for opening up, who knows, we all have out own perspective - mine is we will be back in LD v soon, NHS can't cope with even small increases in admissions.

EU messed up on this, shouldn't have pursued a marginal case.

Few of my friends in Spain wouldn’t like to have for example j&j. 1 lowest % 2 worse side effects that they so far have heard of 3 the clots risk.

Anna it may be a good article but just seeing the name of the paper makes me doubt it! The UK press are awful but the European press too and this German paper printed a dangerously incorrect article earlier this year.

@AnnaBronskisSkirts

This article puts both sides of the court case well. It also compares the wildly different press releases from each side! www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/corona-impfstoff-urteil-gegen-astra-zeneca-warum-die-eu-vorerst-trotzdem-nicht-mehr-impfstoff-bekommt/27302118.html?ticket=ST-15812333-h2ur6bJApxBSDnoouNMI-ap6

It says the court found AZ should "interpret the "best effort" clause in such a way that production sites on British soil are also included."

"Astra-Zeneca boss Pascal Soriot has now admitted that he gave the British government preferential rights. Since he did not disclose this to the EU, this cannot be a reason to subordinate supply to the EU either, according to the court."

It says that the court finding in favour of the EU in these points is politically important: "It thus shows that the delays are not due to a negotiating error on the EU side, but to unlawful behaviour by Astra-Zeneca."

None of that will appear in the UK press.