The European Union has rejected an offer from Astrazeneca of eight million more doses, with the European Commission chief insisting that the company honour its existing “binding contract”.
Details of an intended compromise in the row between Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical firm and the bloc over a sudden cut to Covid vaccine supplies emerged today.
An EU official said that the cuts, blamed on production problems at a Belgian plant, would mean only 31 million doses being delivered in the period to the end of March, a 60 per cent reduction. It is a major blow for the bloc’s 27 member countries, which are already lagging behind the vaccination campaigns in Israel, Britain and the United States.
The official told the Reuters news agency that Astrazeneca had