EU "will not" renew AstraZeneca vaccine contract

The European Union will not be ordering any further vaccines from AstraZeneca past its contract expiry in June as the bloc eyes up further shipments of the Pfizer vaccine, European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said on Sunday.

The EU signed a deal with Pfizer-BioNTech for a further 1.8 billion vaccine doses on Saturday to be delivered between for 2021-2023, although the Commissioner has revealed he expected upfront costs for these vaccines to be higher.

Read more: EU won't renew AstraZeneca, J&J vaccine contracts, claims Italian news

The bloc has been embroiled in a legal battle with AstraZeneca over claims its jab has been linked with an increased chance for blood clots.

Clinical data gathered hints the rate of blood clots is not higher than in the general population, although a UK regulator has hinted it is more likely to appear in women.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) revealed on Friday it was looking into reports of a rare nerve-degenerating disorder in people who have received the jabs. The true extent of these reports and whether they are empirically accurate remains to be seen.

It has, however, continued to stipulate that the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the cons.

The EU has also faced criticism for its handling of the vaccine rollout, and the bloc has placed some of the blame on the UK-based pharmaceutical company owing to it not meeting agreed-upon shipping targets.

Breton criticised the company for not having a "reliable" plan to ensure deliveries.

"We have not renewed the order for after June. We'll see what happens," he told France Inter radio, not ruling out the potential for renewal at a later date.

AstraZeneca has been involved in another controversy in recent days following a multi-billion pound bonus given to CEO Pascal Soriot which has stirred a shareholder shakeup.

While the company has been praised for rolling out vaccines at no profit, this decision has caused AstraZeneca's shareholders to commence firm talks.

The bonus is said to go up with the share price, stopping anywhere between £2.3 (€2.66 million) to £12 million (13.8 million).

French President Emmanuel Macron said both France and the EU would continue to use the remaining AstraZeneca stock to help fight the pandemic, but added that future orders would be from future pharmaceutical companies.

He welcomed the news towards what he sees as more viable vaccine options, describing the entire ruling as "pragmatic."

Macron said: "Who could have known last autumn which vaccine would work or not? I think it was a good policy to buy as many vaccines with all the solutions possible, which most other countries and world powers have done."

Unlike AstraZeneca, Pfizer has been selling its vaccines for a profit - something it has been widely criticised for. 

Read more: Pfizer generates $3.5bn in Covid vaccine revenue as US drives demand

The EU has reported that AstraZeneca has delivered on a little under 30 million doses for the first quarter, with 70 million more expected throughout the second quarter.

Breton has said he believes supply issues are "100% the problem with the EU's vaccine rollout but the bloc will end the year with the capacity to produce "at least 3 billion vaccines a year."

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