EU receives UK-made doses after lengthy feud

The European Union has started to receive AstraZeneca vaccine doses from a factory in the United Kingdom following a monthslong dispute over deliveries.

A recent Brussels court case between the EU and AstraZeneca highlighted a deal the pharmaceutical giant had struck with the UK government to prioritize British citizens with doses made in Britain.

The court ruled that AstraZeneca's decision not to ship from its facility in Oxford was "inconsistent with a clause in the EU contract "whereby AstraZeneca agreed to use "best reasonable efforts" on supply, reported The Daily Telegraph.

The long-running dispute between the EU and AstraZeneca began in January when the company announced delivery shortages to the bloc.

The EU had agreed in a contract with AstraZeneca for it to supply up to 300 million doses in the first six months of this year. However, this was reduced to 100 million doses, and the bloc filed a lawsuit in the spring.

The court judgment means that future AstraZeneca jabs must come from the UK operation, though the Telegraph noted that the company had said it was always planning to "start doing this once its UK commitments were fulfilled".

According to official UK data shared on July 21, about 24.7 million people who had received their first AstraZeneca jab have received their second dose.

"AstraZeneca has delivered on their UK contract and has been an excellent partner to the UK," said Nadhim Zahawi, the UK vaccines minister, as quoted by the Telegraph.

"As part of that, once our contract had been fulfilled, AstraZeneca is able to deliver to the EU and of course together we have delivered hundreds of millions of vaccines to low and middle income countries from AZ's global manufacturing footprint."

Second court case

AstraZeneca could face a second Brussels court case next month over its vaccine deliveries.

Ruud Dobber, AstraZeneca's vice-president of biopharmaceuticals, told reporters last month that the company was "working very closely with the European Commission in order to reach a settlement".

"We don't think it's useful for both parties to continue this (dispute), and I'm very hopeful that in the next few weeks, we will come to an agreement," he said.

Despite a slow start, the EU's vaccination campaign has caught up, and now surpasses that of the United States, reported the Press Association news agency.

It noted that the key reason for the EU's initial delay was its decision to purchase vaccines as a bloc instead of as individual countries.

According to online science publication Our World in Data connected to the University of Oxford, the EU has overtaken the US, with some 60 percent of the bloc's residents receiving at least one dose, against less than 58 percent of US residents.