The European Union has not yet made any new orders for AstraZeneca vaccines beyond June when their contract ends; European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said on Sunday.
Breton also said he expected that the costs of the EU’s recent order for more doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines would be higher than the earlier versions.
The Commission last month launched legal action against AstraZeneca; for not respecting its contract for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines and for not having a “reliable” plan to ensure timely deliveries.
“We did not renew the order after June. We’ll see what happens,” said Breton; adding that it was “a very good vaccine”.
Concerns has risen on potential side-effects of the Anglo-Swedish COVID-19 vaccine.
ALSO READ: EU prepares legal action against AstraZeneca over vaccine delivery issues
Europe’s medicines regulator said on Friday it is reviewing reports of a rare nerve-degenerating disorder in people who received the shots; a move that comes after it found the vaccine may have caused very rare blood clotting cases.
Breton said an increase in prices for second generation vaccines could be justified; by the extra research required and potential changes to industrial equipment.
The European Union signed a new contract with Pfizer-Biontech to receive 1.8 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines for 2021-2023; to cover booster shots, donations and also reselling of doses, the European Commission said on Friday.
“There may be a little extra cost but I will let the competent authorities unveil it in due course;” he told France Inter radio.
