Belgian court orders AstraZeneca to deliver 50M vax to EU by September

Brussels, June 18 (Sputnik) The Court of First Instance of Brussels ruled on Friday to grant interim measures in the EU case against AstraZeneca over failed vaccine deliveries.
The judge ruled that AstraZeneca was in serious breach of its contractual obligations with the EU and should have deployed all possible measures to deliver vaccines within agreed timetable by including its British production sites.
“The court orders AstraZeneca to urgently deliver 50 million doses of vaccine by 27 September 2021 – according to a binding schedule,” the official statement said.
According to the schedule, the vaccine manufacturer will have to supply 15 million doses by July 26, another 20 million doses by August 23, and the remaining 15 million doses by September 27.
The ruling was welcomed by the European Commission.
“This decision confirms the position of the Commission: AstraZeneca did not live up to the commitments it made in the contract. It is good to see that an independent judge confirms this,” Ursula von der Leyen, the EC chief, said.
In case of failure to meet the deadlines, AstraZeneca will have to pay a penalty of 10 euros ($11.8) per dose not delivered.