Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico / Bloomberg
Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico / Bloomberg
The European Union will examine all export orders AstraZeneca Plc vaccines for the UK “very severely” and are likely to reject them until the drugmaker fulfills its delivery obligations to the bloc, a senior EU official said.
In response to comments by UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on Sunday that the EU must honor its vaccine contracts, the Brussels official said it is not the EU’s responsibility to help Astra fulfill its Kingdom commitments. United.
The EU has its own contracts with the company that are currently not being respected and vaccines and ingredients produced in European factories will, for now, be reserved for local deliveries, said the official, who asked not to be identified because the decisions are being made. appreciated and have not been made public.
The EU and the United Kingdom have been at odds over vaccine exports since Astra informed Brussels that it would not be in a position to deliver the vaccines it had promised the bloc. The dispute is becoming increasingly toxic, with both sides blaming each other for export restrictions and nationalism, and some fear the fight could pose a risk to the fragile post-Brexit trade relationship agreed last December.
The EU must honor its vaccine contracts, even with the slow launch putting pressure on governments, Wallace told Sky News.
“The commission knows deep down that this would be counterproductive,” he said. “They are under tremendous political pressure in the European Commission. This would damage EU relations around the world if they reneged on these contracts. “
The EU official said there are no pending orders for UK exports from Astra’s production facility in the Netherlands, but if such an order is placed, it will likely be rejected. More than 10 million doses were exported from the EU to the United Kingdom, although authorities said that very few of those shipments were of the Astra vaccine and its ingredients.
“The Netherlands, in principle, allows exports to continue until the European Commission is told otherwise,” said a Dutch spokesman on Sunday. “In order to avoid an inflection point where additional measures are actually taken by the Commission in cooperation with the member states, it is of the utmost importance that Brussels, London and AstraZeneca reach an agreement promptly on vaccines produced by the company in facilities covered both contracts. “
– With the help of Suzi Ring