Clive contributed his legal opinions for an article in voxeurop magazine about Covid-19 vaccine distribution issues

An extract of Clive’s comments

Clive Douglas, a lawyer and commercial mediator at Nexa Law (another UK law firm), takes a more critical stance. "…In exchange for the participation in the expenses for the development of vaccines and the favorable conditions offered to companies, the EU should have reserved the right to negotiate for the entire duration of the contracts, in particular in the phase following the marketing authorisation, in order to agree on precise quantities and delivery dates, with related penalties and price reductions for non-compliance".

"…Given the urgency of having the vaccines available as quickly as possible, a continuous distribution schedule with shorter intervals would have been preferable," says Douglas.

 "…Governments have the right to stop payments only for late delivery of the quantities as notified by the company, but not for failure to ship all the contractually agreed doses for a given month," says Douglas.

"…To resolve the disagreement between the two parties in one direction or the other, it would be crucial to know when AstraZeneca first encountered the problem at one of its production sites and whether it informed the EU too late," Douglas points out.

 The full article is available on this link to view or download