The European Commission has assessed the damage caused by the delay in shipping vaccines from AstraZeneca. Brussels will charge € 10 for every dose received after June 30, a figure that the bloc estimates at roughly € 200 million a day. A fine of EUR 10 million is added to this amount, according to elEconomista.
At best, the EU should receive 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine by June 30, but Brussels wants 120 million. It is this 20 million delay that forces the Commission to claim 200 million euros for each day of delay. However, the amount may vary depending on the delivery.
The 120 million vaccines required by the Commission are far fewer than the contract signed in 2020. The document said that the British pharmaceutical company should send 120 million by March 31, 2021 and 180 million between April and June. Fewer than 60 million vaccines have been delivered to date.
“AstraZeneca has sold the same vaccine to different customers several times,” said a European Commission lawyer who accused the pharmaceutical company of diverting the Commission’s purchased vaccines to other countries.
Other pharmaceutical companies whose vaccines have been approved have also experienced delays in the supply of their vaccines, but the Commission is satisfied with the rationale to date. This did not happen with AstraZeneca because they believe they acted in bad faith.
“AstraZeneca is not interested in prioritizing one country over another,” said pharmaceutical lawyer Hakim Bularbach, who denied the lab had committed “flagrant breach” of contract.
The pharmaceutical company also claims that meeting this “tentative” schedule was not possible due to the difficulty of producing the vaccine, despite doing “every effort”.
