European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that the bloc could prospectively restrict the export of the COVID-19 vaccine to help meet the local demand for the jabs. She said that the EU was compelled to do so, as AstraZeneca, the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant, was failing to meet its delivery targets. She said that the pharma company had “delivered less than 10% of the amount ordered by the EU for the period from December to March.” Nevertheless, she said that starting April, she expects to receive over 100 million doses of the vaccine each month, specifically in light of the vaccines that the bloc is planning on approving in addition to the BioNTech-Pfizer, AstraZeneca-Oxford, and Moderna candidates that are already being rolled out.
Von der Leyen’s statement comes shortly after Italy urged the Commission to block the export of 250,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs to Australia as it did not feature in the list of “vulnerable” countries due to its low infection rate. Following the Commission’s decision to block the export of the vaccines, the Australian government retaliated and called for a “coalition of countries” to compel the bloc to deliver shipments as planned. For this, the Australian side sought the support of “like-minded countries” like Canada, Japan, Norway, and New Zealand. Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan said he was “incredibly disappointed” with the decision and urged the bloc to refrain from exercising “vaccine protectionism.”
The power to block the shipment of vaccines is a consequence of a law passed by the EU officials in January, which mandated pharmaceutical companies to seek approval before shipping vaccines outside the bloc. This law was a result of a high-profile dispute between the bloc and AstraZeneca stirred up by the pharma giant’s statement declaring that it would not be able to meet its shipment commitments due to production delays. The two sides disagreed on the nature of obligation under their contract on the shipment deliveries, with AstraZeneca insisting that it merely required the company to do its best to meet the requirements. On the other hand, the bloc insisted that the contract mandated the deliveries, and failing to do so would be a breach of the agreement. In light of this ongoing tiff, the bloc passed the law to compel the company to help meet the domestic demand for the vaccines.
The EU’s vaccine drive has faced severe criticism from its onset. In the initial stages, it was criticised for the delays in expediting the approval of the vaccine candidates, which several commentators believed to have been unnecessarily extended. Now, the insufficient production of the vaccines poses another threat to its immunisation drive. In fact, these criticisms also resulted in von der Leyen admitting that the bloc had committed significant mistakes in its vaccine program. In a statement made to the Süddeutsche Zeitung last month, she said, “We were late to authorise. We were too optimistic when it came to massive production … and perhaps too confident that what we ordered would actually be delivered on time.”
The vaccination program has also been tainted by vaccine scepticism amongst the public and the governments. The AstraZeneca vaccine, in particular, faced significant backlash, with several public health experts within the bloc raising concerns about its effect on the elderly. Only last week, the Italian Health Ministry revoked its restriction on the vaccine and said that it could be used to inoculate everyone “except extremely vulnerable people.” Similar changes in opinion about the AstraZeneca candidate were seen by the French, German, and Belgian authorities, who had initially restricted the use of the candidate citing insufficient data in the clinical trials.
EU Warns of Further Restrictions on Vaccine Exports Amid Slow Roll-Out
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that it may further restrict the export of the vaccines to meet its domestic demand.
March 9, 2021
SOURCE: AFP