EU does not renew order for AstraZeneca vaccine

Two weeks ago, the EU launched legal proceedings against AstraZeneca for allegedly failing to respect the terms of its contract with the 27-nation bloc.

The EU Commission did not renew its order for AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, the European Union’s Internal Market Commissioner said.

“We have not renewed the order for after June. We’ll see what will happen next,” Thierry Breton told French radio France Inter.

The announcement comes one day after the European Union cemented its support for Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine by agreeing to a massive contract extension for a potential 1.8 billion doses through 2023.

Two weeks ago, the EU launched legal proceedings against AstraZeneca for allegedly failing to respect the terms of its contract with the 27-nation bloc.

The AstraZeneca vaccine had been central to Europe’s immunisation campaign and a linchpin in the global strategy to get vaccines to poorer countries since it is cheaper and easier to use than the Pfizer vaccine.

Across the Channel, Britain has made the AstraZeneca vaccine the centrepiece of its successful vaccination campaign.