(Reuters) – AstraZeneca must deliver COVID-19 vaccines to the European Union also from a factory in Britain if it is needed to meet its commitments with the EU, a judge ruled on Friday, according to a lawyer representing the EU.
The company had said it could not immediately deliver to the EU doses from an Oxford Biomedica factory in Britain because it had to supply the United Kingdom first.
The EU lawyer said the judge decided that that factory must be used for EU supplies. However, AstraZeneca could meet its commitments with the EU without using that factory.
The company is not obliged to deliver doses by a timetable in the contract until the end of June, but must still deliver a total of 300 million doses to the EU, the judge ruled.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio, editing by Louise Heavens)
