BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union adopted stricter controls on the export of coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday, seeking to ensure that its 27 countries have more injections of COVID-19 to boost the bloc’s vaccination campaign amid an increase new infections.
The EU Executive Committee said on the eve of a summit of EU leaders that it has a plan to ensure that more vaccines produced in the bloc are available to its 450 million citizens, even if it comes at the cost of helping nations outside the bloc, more notably Britain.
EU officials said that trade with the United States should not be affected and assured the nations that sought to have an open and transparent relationship with the bloc that they had little to fear.
The EU measure is expected to be a blow to Britain, whose rapid launch of vaccination has been viewed with envy by many EU countries, especially since the UK formally concluded its Brexit divorce from the bloc. The latest figures show that 45% of Britons have already had at least one vaccine injection, compared to less than 14% in the bloc.
“I specifically mention the UK,” said European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis. Since the end of January, “around 10 million doses have been exported from the EU to the United Kingdom and no dose has been exported from the United Kingdom to the EU”.
“So it is clear that we also need to look at these aspects of reciprocity and proportionality,” he said.
In the post-Brexit era, the two sides fought for everything from diplomatic representation to border controls and bureaucracy, but did not want to take on the same tone of confrontation with life-saving vaccines, especially when the World Health Organization is raising alarms about the increase in new infections across Europe.
Within hours of the Commission’s action, both the EU and the UK said in a joint statement that “we are all facing the same pandemic and the third wave makes cooperation between the EU and the UK even more important”.
“Ultimately, openness and global cooperation from all countries will be the key to finally overcoming this pandemic and ensuring better preparedness to face future challenges,” said the statement.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that global cooperation in vaccines has been the EU standard. The bloc has approved sending 41 million doses of vaccines to 33 countries in the past seven weeks and believes it is at the forefront of international vaccine sharing efforts. The overall total of vaccines exported is even greater, as many more have not been covered by the recent export regime.
Some EU member states preparing for Thursday’s summit, however, fear that a very tough export stance could mean a de facto export ban that undermines the EU’s reputation as an open trade bloc.
Under a less stringent export control system in place so far, only one vaccine shipment in 381 has been stopped. This was going to Australia, which has a very limited outbreak of coronavirus compared to the third outbreak of infections now faced by many EU countries.
“We guarantee more than enough doses for the entire population. But we have to guarantee the timely and sufficient delivery of vaccines to EU citizens, ”said von der Leyen. “Every day counts.”
Under the new regime, EU officials would also take reciprocity and the search for the right balance into account.
Canada also receives vaccines sent from Europe and has received guarantees “that these measures will not affect vaccine shipments to Canada,” said a Canadian government spokesman.
The EU has been fighting with AstraZeneca for months over exactly how many doses of vaccine would be delivered on certain dates. Several vaccine producers, including Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca, were hit by delays in technical production during the winter, just as global demand for coronavirus vaccines skyrocketed. AstraZeneca produced less than half of the doses that the EU expected.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has sought to ease tensions over vaccines, speaking on the phone in recent days with European leaders, including von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron.
“The partnership we have with our European colleagues is very, very important and we continue to work with them,” Johnson told lawmakers on Wednesday. “I don’t think vaccine blocks … or vaccine ingredients are sensible.”
“I would just like to kindly point out to anyone considering a blockade … that companies can look at such actions and draw conclusions about whether or not it is sensible to make future investments in countries where blockages are imposed,” said Johnson.
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Rob Gillies contributed from Toronto, Jill Lawless from London.
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