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  • 27-01-2021 16:12

EU/Presidency: Portugal's PM hopes EU negotiations with AstraZeneca 'will be successful asap'


Brussels, Jan. 27, 2021 (Lusa) – Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said on Wednesday that he hopes that "there will be no more problems with the supply of vaccines by the pharmaceutical industry" and that the negotiations with AstraZeneca "will be successful as soon as possible".

"The timetable for vaccination is known and I hope that there will be no more problems with the supply of vaccines from the industry and that the negotiations currently underway with AstraZeneca will be successful as soon as possible," António Costa stressed during a speech, by videoconference, at the plenary session of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), where he presented the priorities of the Portuguese chair of the Council of the European Union.

He advocated the need for a rapid resolution of the dispute between the European Commission and AstraZeneca because he felt that "if there is a breakdown in contractual relations or any mishap in the production and distribution chain" of vaccines, the vaccination process "will be jeopardised".

In this context, Costa said that the collective goal of the European Union (EU) in terms of vaccination, which was "well announced" by the European Commission last week, was to "achieve the level of EU-wide immunity" by the summer.

"And it is essential that it be on a Union-wide scale, because that is the only way to restore the internal market and freedom of movement in a fully functioning way", he said.

He went on to say that the EU would not be able to overcome the pandemic "without economic and social recovery".

"There is no alternative: we have to walk hand in hand with these two legs at the same time: more vaccination, more recovery, more vaccination, more recovery. And that is how we will build the future of Europe together", he concluded.

In August 2020, the European Commission signed a contract with AstraZeneca to purchase 300 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine produced in collaboration with Oxford University, with an option for a further 100 million doses.

However, last week AstraZeneca announced that it intends to deliver considerably smaller doses in the coming weeks than agreed with the EU, which Brussels finds unacceptable and a possible breach of contract.

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