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January 29, 2021 The European Commission has published the contract signed with AstraZeneca for the supply of the vaccine against Covid-19.

The contract, downloadable

here

, contains obscured parts relating to confidential information such as invoice details.

The AstraZeneca contract is the second to be released, after CureVac agreed to publish the advance purchase agreement with the European Commission.



"At the request of the European Commission, AstraZeneca has decided to publish a version of the contract" on the supply of vaccines to the EU.

This was announced by the spokesman of the European Commission, Eric Mamer.

"The Commission welcomes the company's commitment to greater transparency in its participation in the launch of the EU vaccine strategy," the spokesperson added.

"The Commission hopes to be able to publish all contracts under the advance purchase agreements in the near future," concluded Mamer. 



The contract between the European Commission and AstraZeneca was signed on 27 August 2020. There is expected to be delivery of the initial doses already in 2020 and others in the first quarter of 2021. Among the obscured parts, those relating to costs and payments, as well as quantities and timing of some productions / deliveries.

In relation to the first doses, the contract data on the various quarters are obscured.



The production sites

In the

"production sites"

section

of

the contract signed with the European Commission it is specified that "AstraZeneca will make its best and reasonable efforts to produce the vaccine at production sites located within the EU and will be able to manufacture the vaccine in non-EU facilities "limited to those located" only in the United Kingdom "in order to" accelerate vaccine supply in Europe ".

However, AstraZeneca must provide "written notice of such non-EU production facilities which includes an explanation for this decision to use non-EU production facilities". 



If the company "will not be able to comply with the intention to produce the initial doses for Europe under this agreement in the EU, the Commission or the Member States will be able to present to AstraZeneca Cmo (contract suppliers, ed.) within the EU capable of producing the vaccine doses ".

And AstraZeneca "will have to do its best to agree with these CMOs to increase the production capacity available in the EU".

The map of the establishments is in Annex A, heavily obscured: it mentions sites in France and Belgium, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany.



A senior EU official specifies that the list of production plants that AstraZeneca has undertaken to use, contained in Annex A, omitted in detail, is not "an option", but "a specific contractual obligation" that the company has undersigned.

In other words, as explained by EU sources the day before yesterday, the British company has undertaken to produce vaccine doses destined for continental Europe also in plants located in the United Kingdom, which is now a third country in all respects, but which for contractual purposes is considered part of the EU, limited to the location of the production sites.



Maximum effort possible

In the Covid-19 vaccine contract between the European Commission and AstraZeneca, the meaning of 'Best Reasonable Efforts' is specified, which has been a point of contention between the parties in relation to the reduction of the quantities of doses provided.

The term, which in Italian can be translated as 'Maximum Efforts', refers to "in the case of AstraZeneca, the activities and amount of commitment that a company of this size with such infrastructure and resources as AstraZeneca would undertake or use in the development and production of a vaccine at the stage of development or commercialization, given the urgent need for a vaccine to put an end to the global pandemic which is causing serious public health problems, restrictions on personal freedoms and economic consequences, worldwide, but considering efficacy and safety ".



Von der Leyen: "Binding and very clear"

The EU contract with AstraZeneca is 

"very clear" and "contains binding orders"

.

This is what the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen claims.

For the leader of the Commission, the "maximum commitment" mentioned in the contract was valid only until AstraZeneca "was not certain that it could develop the vaccine".



For the EU leader - who continues to ask for explanations on delays in deliveries - the elements of the contract were and remain clear: "Quantities were expected to be delivered in December and in the first three quarters of 2021 and four production sites are mentioned, two of which in Great Britain ". 



Below is the text of the contract.