The EU’s decision to implement export controls on coronavirus vaccines is “highly problematic”, according to experts, who warned that this could lead to a collapse in global supply if other countries follow suit.
“There is a real risk that the EU decision will trigger a cascade in other countries, putting export (vaccine) bans in place,” Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Center Graduate Institute in Geneva, told CNBC on Monday. .
“There is a real risk that we will see a breakdown in the movement of vaccines across borders, the same type of breakdown we saw a year ago when countries, including the EU, blocked food and even masks and other essential medical supplies from being exported. This is disastrous at the international level. “
At worst, she said, “the biggest risk is that this will be an example to be followed by many other countries, and that it will lead to a breakdown in the global supply of vaccines.”
Export controls
People line up to receive the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm Covid-19, in front of the Belgrade Fair, transformed into a vaccination center, on January 25, 2021.
ANDREJ ISAKOVIC | AFP | Getty Images
Despite insisting that the measure was not an “export ban”, it does allow member states to restrict exports of coronavirus vaccines made in the bloc if they believe the vaccine manufacturer has failed to honor existing contracts with the EU.
It contains exemptions for a variety of countries outside the EU, but within Europe, such as Albania and Serbia, a number of countries in North Africa and any of the 92 low- and middle-income countries covered by the COVAX initiative.
Moon said: “The EU has certainly put in some pressure valves to allow exports to certain countries in the world, but there are still many countries that are heavily dependent on EU production and they will be severely affected.”
The bloc made the announcement amid heightened concerns and ugly public disputes with vaccine manufacturers over a lack of supplies for the bloc.
Vaccine maker Pfizer said it was temporarily slowing production of its vaccine, developed with German biotechnology BioNTech, while updating production facilities in Belgium, while AstraZeneca also dealt a blow to the EU by announcing that it would deliver far fewer doses of vaccine than initially expected in the first quarter, citing problems at its factories in the Netherlands and Belgium.
The delays increased pressure on the European Commission, which was already criticized for its lack of speed in requesting and approving vaccines and implementing immunizations.
The move to introduce export controls has sparked furor in the UK in particular, after a week of mounting tensions over the supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is also manufactured in two locations in Britain.
The EU had indicated that supplies should be diverted from British factories to Europe, leading to a dispute with the UK pharmaceutical and government. The situation reached the point where the EU said it would cancel part of the Brexit agreement to prevent vaccines manufactured in the EU from entering the United Kingdom through Northern Ireland.
He reversed that decision shortly after, after a public outcry, including from the World Health Organization, which warned against the dangers of “vaccine nationalism”. The EU has assured the United Kingdom that it will receive supplies of vaccines manufactured in the bloc.
Pandora’s box
Simon J. Evenett, professor of international trade and economic development at the University of St. Gallen, commented on Monday that the EU action was equivalent to opening the “Pandora’s box” and that it could have unforeseen consequences.
He said the restrictions could cause concern among foreign governments for a number of reasons, including the fact that “the standard for authorizing exports of the Covid-19 vaccine is unclear” and that these decisions “may be arbitrary”. He also signaled that he cannot expire on March 31, 2021, as promised.
Evenett warned that the move could “spread throughout the supply chain for the Covid-19 vaccine, to include the vital ingredients needed to produce the vaccines and distribute them” and could even lead to the export of other essential goods, such as food, energy and other medicines.
The CSL team is working in the laboratory on November 8, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia, where it will begin manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca-Oxford University.
Darrian Traynor | Getty Images
These scenarios “would exacerbate the damage done to the EU’s public health systems and multinationals,” he said.
“Disruption to vaccine supply chains will lower inoculation rates in the EU and elsewhere, resulting in unnecessary deaths and an even slower economic recovery. If the European Commission realizes that it is about to open Pandora’s Box, it may find an elegant way to withdraw its export control regime under the Covid-19 regime, “he said.
“Doing so would allow the EU to regain its reputation as an advocate of multilateralism and the rules-based global trading system. This reputation is in tatters this morning.”