The European Union (EU) and AstraZeneca (AZN.L) have reached a settlement deal, ending a vaccine raw.
The deal states the delivery of 200 million pending vaccine doses to the EU by the end of March 2022.
The settlement has ended a row about shortages that had weighed on the company and the region’s vaccination campaign.
Earlier this year AstraZeneca angered EU officials when it said it could only deliver a fraction of the doses agreed for the first three months of 2021.
The Commission accused the company of breaking an August 2020 advanced purchase deal. However, AstraZeneca hit back arguing that the contract only required its “best effort” to deliver millions of vaccine doses on time.
A Belgian court ruled in June that AstraZeneca had committed a “serious breach” of its contract with the EU. But the company said the ruling showed that “AstraZeneca has fully complied with its agreement” with the European Commission.
However, the deal has put an end to the EU’s pending action in the Belgian courts.
AstraZeneca was seen as a key pillar of the EU’s vaccine rollout.
EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said there were still “significant differences in vaccination rates between our member states, and the continued availability of vaccines, including AstraZeneca’s, remains crucial”.
First Death Linked to Pfizer
New Zealand has reported its first death linked to the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
The health ministry has declared that a woman suffered a rare heart muscle inflammation side effect after receiving her first batch of vaccination.
“This is the first case … where a death in the days following the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccination,” the health ministry said.
However, the authorities did not declare the official cause of death.
The Covid-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board said the woman’s death was “probably” due to myocarditis.
It also noted there were other medical issues which could have “influenced the outcome following vaccination”.
