AstraZeneca receives protection from COVID-19 vaccine liability claims, report says

A report has revealed that AstraZeneca has been given protection from future product liability claims related to its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. According to a senior executive who spoke to Reuters, the company has made this arrangement with most of the countries where it has formed supply agreements.

“This is a unique situation where we as a company simply cannot take the risk if in… four years the vaccine is showing side effects,” said Ruud Dobber, a member of AstraZeneca’s senior executive team, as quoted by Reuters. “In the contracts we have in place, we are asking for indemnification. For most countries it is acceptable to take that risk on their shoulders because it is in their national interest.”

Although Dobber reportedly emphasised that safety was a top priority for AstraZeneca when making the vaccine, the countries remain unnamed as of yet.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca has inked a deal with Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products to produce the former’s potential COVID-19 vaccine in mainland China. According to this report from Reuters, Shenzhen Kangtai will provide an annual production capacity of at least 100 million doses of the experimental prophylactic AZD1222.

The outlet says that the company must be able to produce at least 200 million doses by the end of 2021 to uphold the framework agreement.

Furthermore, the two companies will purportedly additionally explore the potential for co-operation and working together on the vaccine candidate in other markets.