BERLIN — The European Union’s 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.
The European Commission said Saturday that AstraZeneca in particular could face export bans to countries outside the EU if it didn’t quickly deliver the promised amount of vaccines to the 27-nation bloc. “We have the possibility to ban planned exports,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Saturday. “This is a message to AstraZeneca: You fulfill your part of the deal toward Europe before you start to deliver to other countries,” von der Leyen said in an interview with German media group Funke.