The European Union and AstraZeneca reached an agreement Friday, which will secure the delivery of the remaining 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the EU. The agreement will also end the pending litigation before the Brussels Court, said the European Commission in a press release Friday. EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides said: “Today’s settlement agreement guarantees the delivery of the remaining 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by AstraZeneca to the EU. “We will continue helping the rest of the world, Our aim is to share at least 200 million doses of vaccines through COVAX with low and middle-income countries until the end of this year,” she said. “While this week we reached the important milestone of 70% full vaccination of the EU"s adult population, there are significant differences in vaccination rates between our member states, and the continued availability of vaccines, including AstraZeneca"s, remain crucial. “And as the strongest supporter of global vaccine cooperation and solidarity, we will continue helping the rest of the world. Vaccine solidarity is and remains our trademark," Kyriakides added. The deal includes the commitment by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company to deliver 135 million doses by the end of this year and the remaining 65 million by the end of March 2022. The agreement will secure the delivery of the remaining COVID-19 vaccine doses to member states under the terms of the Advance Purchase Agreement concluded on Aug. 27, 2020 with AstraZeneca. The EU said that the member states would be provided with regular delivery schedules and capped rebates would apply in the event of any delayed doses. The European Commission presented on June 17 a European strategy to accelerate the development, manufacturing and deployment of effective and safe vaccines against COVID-19. In return for the right to buy a specified number of vaccine doses in a given timeframe, the Commission finances part of the upfront costs faced by vaccines producers in the form of Advance Purchase Agreements. In view of the current and new escape SARS-CoV-2 variants, the Commission and the member states are negotiating with companies already in the EU vaccine portfolio new agreements that would allow to purchase rapidly adapted vaccines in sufficient quantities to reinforce and prolong immunity. In order to purchase the new vaccines, member states are allowed to use the REACT-EU package, one of the largest programs under the new instrument Next Generation EU that continues and extends the crisis response and crisis repair measures. — Agencies