Reuters- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen voiced frustration on Thursday (March 26) over a massive shortfall in contracted deliveries of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, as a third wave of infections surged across Europe.
With inoculation programmes running far behind those of Britain and the United States, the head of the EU executive warned that vaccine exports by the British-Swedish company would be blocked until it delivers the shots it promised to the EU.
"The company has to catch up, has to honour the contract it has with the European member states, before it can engage again in exporting vaccines," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference after a video-conference summit of the European Union's leaders.
Of 300 million doses due to be delivered to EU countries by the end of June, Astrazeneca aims to deliver only 100 million.
Earlier this week, the European Commission unveiled plans to tighten oversight of vaccine exports. This would allow greater scope to block shipments to countries with higher inoculation rates.
The EU is divided over whether to take a tougher line on vaccine exports by companies that do not meet contractual commitments.
