AstraZeneca 'agrees to boost EU vaccine supplies'
The EU says UK-Swedish medicine firm AstraZeneca will now supply yet another nine million Covid vaccine doses by March, after days and nights of criticism of the bloc's vaccination program.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it had been a "step forward".
However the 40m doses right now expected are still only about half of what have been hoped, amid continuing source problems.
The Commission has been involved with a much-criticized row with both UK and AstraZeneca this week.
In particular it had been condemned over its threat to place checks on the Northern Ireland border to avoid vaccines produced in the EU from achieving the UK.
The border was just about the most complicated problems to overcome in the recently agreed Brexit deal, following the UK's departure from the EU.
The EU was angry that Britain was getting its UK-made contracted supplies from AstraZeneca although it suffered a shortfall. Therefore the bloc announced it had been introducing export handles on coronavirus vaccines produced inside the EU to try to protect its materials. The Brexit package ensures there will be no obstacles to trade between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland .
In a tweet, Ms von der Leyen said AstraZeneca would "deliver 9 million additional doses in the earliest quarter (40 million altogether) compared to previous week's offer & will start deliveries one week earlier than scheduled".
She said this represented a 30% increase in the previous amount.
Irish broadcaster RTE is going to be reporting that the country are certain to get another 100,000 doses due to this fact.
The EU signed a offer in August for 300 million AstraZeneca doses, with a choice for 100 million more.
It had been hoped 80 million will be delivered in the first quarter of 2021 - although other sources had place the figure at 100 million - but AstraZeneca said there have been production challenges at its Dutch and Belgian vegetation. Media reported this might mean a 60% chop in products to the finish of March.
There followed a terse exchange between your two parties in contractual obligations, the EU arguing it had been binding and the drug firm saying it had only to provide its "very best reasonable efforts". The contract between your two was partly posted as both attempted to gain the argument.
The Commission pointed out it may be supplied from UK-based plants, however the UK staunchly defended its source contracts with AstraZeneca.
The UK was the first country to approve the vaccine, on 30 December - the EU only did etc Friday.
The EU, also on Friday, announced its so-called transparency mechanism, which gives countries in the bloc powers to deny authorization for vaccine exports if the business making them hasn't honored existing contracts with the EU.
The EU's try to apply measures to the Irish border was widely condemned, and the heads of the UK- and Europe-wide industry bodies warned against export bans.
The EU stepped back again and, in a call with Primary Minister Boris Johnson, Ursula Von Der Leyen said that "you will see no disruption of contracts that we have with any producer in the EU".
Furthermore to her announcement on the doses, Ms Von Der Leyen said she had had a video-conference with vaccine companies.
In an earlier tweet she spoke of "our new initiative to strengthen bio-defense preparedness", adding: "We're discussing how to address Covid-19 variants & scale up making, be better ready for future pandemics."
There was no mention of the talk earlier in the week of legal action and "hijacking" of supplies. The BBC's Kevin Connolly says this was a curiously smooth and bland conclusion to a week of stormy rhetoric.
The additional doses announcement will be greeted with relief in Brussels, our correspondent says, nonetheless it still leaves the European Commission facing awkward questions about how precisely its signing of supply contracts and approval processes own lagged behind those of other wealthy nations.
Even Ms Von Der Leyen's mention of AstraZeneca expanding its production in Europe and the sooner supply time were partly signaled by the firm last week.
But she said on Sunday that the EU was maintaining its "concentrate on of vaccinating 70% of adults by the finish of summer".
"Our opponent may be the virus and the pharmaceutical sector is area of the solution," Ms Von Der Leyen told German public broadcaster ZDF.
