Spat w/AstraZeneca Continues As Today's Meeting Between EU & Firm Cancelled

A proposed meeting between the leadership of pharma giant AstraZeneca (AZ) and senior EU officials due to take place today has been cancelled after the firm refused to attend. The EU has requested the contract signed with AZ be published. AZ has said it will respond in writing rather than in person.

• The EU and AZ remain in a bitter spat over the issue of AZ stating it would not be able to supply the number of COVID-19 vaccines originally stated.
• The EU has argued that the firm misled them insofar as overstating the number of vaccines it could produce at its EU-based facilities. Some in the EU have called for AZ to divert some of the vaccines produced in the UK to the EU to fulfil some of its order.
• AZ has stated that the EU signed its order with the firm three months after the UK, meaning its facilities in the UK were able to get a jump-start on preparing for mass production and therefore are now producing higher yields.
• This risks becoming not only a row between the EU and AZ, but involving member state gov'ts and the UK as well. Should the EU seek to force the diversion of AZ vaccines from the UK to the EU, or if the EU hinders the export of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines to the UK it risks a major diplomatic row with London.