Coronavirus Updates

March 18, 2021

EU plans to launch dispute settlement with AstraZeneca

Uganda will import five million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines next month after the discovery of new COVID-19 variants in the country, President Yoweri Museveni has said. In a televised address to the nation late Friday, Museveni said the vaccines will be used to vaccinate at least 80 per cent of the 5.5 million elderly. People below 50 years, with underlying medical conditions that are at high risk of contracting the novel coronavirus, will also be vaccinated. Uganda targets to vaccinate more than 21.9 million people who face the highest risk of the infection, including the health workers, teachers, social workers and security personnel, elderly and those with underlying medical conditions. “The government is working hard to ensure we bring another five million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine before the end of May to complete the threshold vaccination and ensure that those vaccinated before getting the second booster dose,’’ said Museveni. “Vaccines are the most effective intervention we have against COVID-19. “The government and partners are working hard to bring vaccines to most adult Ugandans to protect them and to support us to reopen the economy and get back all our children to school.’’ Henry Mwebesa, Director-General of Health Services, last week said Uganda is scheduled to receive some two million more doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines in May through the COVAX facility. Uganda has so far received 964,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX vaccine sharing programme and the Indian government. As of April 16, a total of 220,893 people had been inoculated with the first jab of AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19, according to the Ministry of Health statistics. The country has reported the emergence of the highly transmissible COVID-19 variants which were first reported in Britain, South Africa and Nigeria. The ministry’s data showed that as of April 16, Uganda had registered a cumulative total of 41,340 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 40,898 recoveries and 338 deaths.

The European Commission plans to launch the dispute settlement process in its coronavirus vaccine contract with pharma giant AstraZeneca, EU spokesmen said Thursday.

Chief spokesman Eric Mamer said Brussels is waiting for the go-ahead from EU member states to write to the firm to demand talks on its alleged failure to honour its contract.

Mamer said the letter “will allow us to start a dialogue with the company as part of a dispute settlement process.”

By its own admission, the British-Swedish company has fallen well short of promised deliveries, and this shortfall has slowed Europe’s troubled vaccine roll-out.

The dispute has also triggered an international row, with European officials furious that AstraZeneca has delivered on its UK contract while falling short in the EU.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen singled out Britain on Wednesday when she warned that Brussels was seeking a way to ensure “reciprocity” in shipments.

This was taken as a threat to prevent EU vaccine exports to Britain while UK-based suppliers are not shipping to Europe.

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The letter would be the first formal measure by the EU since the row erupted and activates a clause in the supply contract between Brussels and the firm.

This could lead to legal action if AstraZeneca is not able to assure European officials it has met its obligation to make its “best efforts” to ship the promised doses.

Commission health spokesman Stefan de Keersmaeker said that, once the letter was sent, the firm would have 20 days to arrange a senior-level meeting with EU officials.

“The aim of that process is to arrive at a solution which resolves the conflict in good faith … in a way that is satisfactory to all parties,” he said.

AstraZeneca had been expected to deliver 90 million doses of vaccine in the first quarter of 2021, but will likely only be able to supply 30 million, after production delays at its EU plants.

In the second quarter, it hopes to deliver 70 million, many fewer than the 180 million initially promised.

Brussels has, however, worked to accelerate production at plants operated by other drugs firms and still hopes to vaccinate 70 per cent of European adults before the end of summer.

[AFP]

Vanguard News Nigeria