The European Health Commissioner slammed AstraZeneca after a meeting on Monday, saying the company failed to provide sufficient clarification on why it slashed vaccine deliveries to the bloc in the coming weeks.  

Stella Kyriakides said a second meeting with the British-Swedish firm was scheduled for later Monday night.  

Brussels demanded to know exactly which doses of the vaccine have been produced where and to whom they have been delivered. 

"The European Union has pre-financed the development of the vaccine and its production and wants to see the return," Kyriakides said in a video press statement. "The European Union wants the ordered and pre-financed doses to be delivered as soon as possible and we want our contract to be fully fulfilled." 

On Friday, AstraZeneca informed Brussels that first-quarter supplies of the jab would fall short of what was promised. More than half of the shipments are reportedly delayed. AstraZeneca, which developed the shot with Oxford University, blamed the shortfall on "reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our Europe supply chain."  

The Commission on Monday also tabled a proposal to introduce an export transparency mechanism as soon as possible. It would mandate all companies producing COVID-19 vaccine in the EU to provide early notification whenever they want to export vaccines to third countries.  

"We want clarity on transactions and full transparency concerning the export of vaccines from the EU," said Kyriakides. "The European Union has supported the rapid development and production of several vaccines against COVID-19 with a total of 2.7 billion euros [$3.3 billion]." 

Earlier on Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke to AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot to – according to her spokesperson – remind him the EU invested "significant amounts in the company upfront, precisely so production is ramped up" and doses are ready to ship when and if the vaccine is granted approval by the European drugs regulator.  

"Of course, production issues can appear with a complex vaccine, but we expect the company to find solutions and exploit all possible flexibilities to deliver swiftly," said the Commission's chief spokesperson, Eric Mamer, during a press briefing.

Legal action 

The European Commission signed an Advance Purchase Agreement with AstraZeneca in August for up to 400 million doses and expected 100 million to be delivered in the first quarter. The European Medicines Agency is expected to approve the vaccine for use across the bloc on January 29.  

Speaking at the World Economic Forum's virtual meeting on Monday, Soriot called the development of COVID-19 vaccines a "huge undertaking." 

"We should remember that what we are trying to do collectively here has never been done in the history of the world – to develop a vaccine, or several vaccines in this instance, in a year. And then scale up to billions of doses when we know today the biggest manufacturer has only got a capacity of a billion doses per year across all their vaccines," said the AstraZeneca CEO. 

Earlier this month, Pfizer said vaccine shipments from its Puurs, Belgium plant would be temporarily delayed as it ramped up production to 2 billion COVID-19 doses in 2021. It has developed its vaccine with German firm BioNTech. 

The twin delays could further exacerbate a slow vaccine roll-out across the bloc and further jeopardize the its ambitious aim of immunizing 70 percent of the adult population by the end of the summer. According to the Bloomberg vaccine tracker, the EU has administered fewer than two doses per 100 residents, compared with more than 10 in the UK and nearly seven in the U.S..  
Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Rome will take legal action against Pfizer and AstraZeneca for the delays, but the Commission on Monday refused to be drawn into a debate on what legal recourse it would consider.  

European Council President Charles Michel was more frank during an interview with Europe 1 radio on Sunday. "We can use all legal means at our disposal for this," he said, adding that the EU "intends to enforce the contracts signed by the pharmaceutical industry."