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BERLIN \u2014 The European Union\u2019s executive arm is increasing its pressure on pharmaceutical companies to speed up their vaccine delivery to the continent as virus numbers are rising again in many member countries.<\/p>\n
The European Commission said Saturday that AstraZeneca in particular could face export bans to countries outside the EU if it didn\u2019t quickly deliver the promised amount of vaccines to the 27-nation bloc.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the possibility to ban planned exports,\u201d European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a message to AstraZeneca: You fulfill your part of the deal toward Europe before you start to deliver to other countries,\u201d von der Leyen said in an interview with German media group Funke.<\/p>\n
Von der Leyen said the contract between the EU and AstraZeneca clearly regulates how much vaccines the EU gets from AstraZeneca\u2019s plants inside the EU and in Britain.<\/p>\n
However, von der Leyen added, \u201cwe didn\u2019t get anything from the Brits while we are delivering vaccines to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the commission had sent a \u201cformal reminder\u201d to AstraZeneca regarding this issue.<\/p>\n
AstraZeneca\u2019s coronavirus vaccine is one of three vaccines that\u2019s approved in the EU. However, its usage has been overshadowed by several problems, including a slow start, recurring delivery problems and a temporary ban for several days earlier this week in many of the bloc\u2019s member countries after reports of blood clots in some recipients of the vaccine.<\/p>\n
Most countries in the EU resumed giving shots of AstraZeneca again Friday as infection numbers were spiking again across the continent and AstraZeneca\u2019s vaccine, too, is seen as critical to ending the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n