EU, AstraZeneca find common language, provide additional 9 million doses

After many clashes, the common language is finally found. The European Union announced that the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca will supply an additional 9 million doses of anti-David vaccine by March.

This came after days of criticism for the bloc's programme of population immunization. European Commission President Ursula von der Leenen said it was a “opening before”. But the 40 million doses that had to be distributed are still halfway through, amid continuing supply problems: “Step forward for vaccines. AstraZeneca will distribute an additional 9 million doses in the first 3-month total (40m in total), compared to last week's bid, and will start sending them a week before planned. The company will also expand its production capacities in Europe”.

The European Commission is involved in the highly criticised dispute with Great Britain and the AstraZeneca company last week. In particular, the bloc's threat to deploy controls on the border of Northern Ireland has been condemned to prevent EU-made vaccines from going to the United Kingdom. This border point was one of the most difficult problems to overcome in the Brex deal. Brussels was angry as Britain was receiving dose supplies from AstraZeneca, while it itself was facing considerable shortages.

The company that developed an anti-David vaccine in co-operation with Oxford University has promised the EU at least 80 million doses in the first quarter, but already the union must be satisfied with only half of them.