BRUSSELS – Warned by European authorities, a team of inspectors from the Italian police arrived at a vaccine factory on the outskirts of Rome over the weekend. They discovered 29 million doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines, fueling suspicions that the company was trying to send them abroad instead of distributing them in the European Union.
Four days of checks later, the Italian authorities accepted AstraZeneca’s explanation that the doses were undergoing quality control before being sent to the developing world and European countries.
The cinematic attack – with the aim of putting a little force on the European Union’s threats to stop the company from exporting doses – is now a vivid example of how desperate the search for vaccines is becoming. It was also a sign of the continuing tensions between the bloc and those he suspects may be cheating.
On Wednesday, the bloc flexed its powers even further, revealing emergency rules that grant it broad authority to halt exports of Covid vaccines made in the EU, escalating an unusual protectionist stance and risking a new crisis in its fragile relations with Britain. Britain, a former member.
Britain has been by far the biggest beneficiary of the bloc’s exports, so it has a lot to lose, but the rules – if applied – could also be used to restrict exports to Israel and other countries. The legislation is unlikely to affect the United States, and shipments to poor countries through a global consortium will continue.
The measures highlighted the plight of the EU: having launched an ambitious joint vaccine procurement program last year on behalf of its 27 members, the bloc realized in early 2021 that it had not taken the necessary steps to safeguard supplies. Since then, it has lagged behind.
For Europeans, who face a punitive third wave of infections, it has been especially difficult to restart the blockade, even when other nations begin to imagine a return to normalcy.
Preparing the ground for the tightening of export rules, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen painted a dramatic picture last week.
“We are in the crisis of the century,” she said. “And I’m not ruling out anything yet, because we have to ensure that Europeans are vaccinated as soon as possible.”
Only about 10 percent of European Union citizens have received at least one injection of vaccine so far, compared with 40 percent of Britons and a quarter of Americans.
The block of 450 million people keeps around 70 million vaccines at home and distributes to their associates, while exporting more than 40 million to other countries that have contractual agreements with pharmaceutical companies. But supply problems have persisted mainly in relations with AstraZeneca, which drastically cut deliveries citing production problems earlier this year, while continuing to supply other customers, especially Britain, without serious hiccups.
AstraZeneca, an Anglo-Swedish company, denied violating its contract with the EU and said its supply to the UK has been more stable because deliveries started earlier and problems were resolved earlier.
The shortage of vaccines is only part of the reason for the bloc’s incomprehensibly slow implementation, with serious logistical setbacks sharing the blame. The campaigns were also hampered by growing skepticism about the vaccine, especially against the AstraZeneca injection. EU data shows that of the 16.6 million distributed doses of AstraZeneca, only 55 percent were administered.
AstraZeneca is the main target of the new export rules. But the legislation, due to go into effect on Thursday, could block the export of millions of doses from EU ports and affect vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna as well.
Britain has received around 10 million doses produced in the EU in recent weeks. Canada was the second largest recipient. Israel also receives doses of the bloc, but it is very advanced in its vaccination campaign and, therefore, is seen as less needy.
The new rules encourage the blocking of shipments to countries that do not export vaccines to the European Union or to countries that have a “higher vaccination rate” than the European Union “or where the current epidemiological situation is less serious” than in the bloc.
The European Commission tried to explain why export measures were necessary.
“Nineteen countries are reporting an increase in the number of cases, 15 member states are reporting an increase in the number of ICU admissions, while eight member states are reporting an increase in the number of deaths,” said Stella Kyriakides, the bloc’s health commissioner.
“This is where we are today, we are dealing with a pandemic,” she added. “And this is not intended to punish any country. We are the biggest supporters of global solidarity. “
With the threat of export restrictions hanging in the air, the British government and the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, adopted a conciliatory tone.
“Given our interdependencies, we are working on specific measures that we can take – in the short, medium and long term – to create a win-win situation and expand the supply of vaccines to all of our citizens,” said a joint statement released Wednesday -market.
The EU was criticized internally for allowing exports, in the first place, when the United States and Britain practically blocked domestic production for domestic use through contracts with pharmaceutical companies. So far, the EU has blocked only a small consignment to Australia, claiming that the country was virtually free from Covid.
EU officials said the new rules would allow for a degree of discretion, meaning that they would not result in a general export ban, and officials still hope that many exports will continue.
But the measures have caused discomfort in many EU countries, including the Netherlands and Belgium – both with large vaccine-exporting factories – and have raised concerns about disruptions in global supply chains, as well as damage to their reputations. Others, like France and Italy, were happy to see the EU take tougher action. EU leaders are due to meet by teleconference to discuss the situation on Thursday.
“With this mechanism, we have a certain influence so that we can enter into discussions with other major vaccine producers,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, the bloc’s trade czar, at a news conference on Wednesday.
“Although the EU is one of the global focuses of the pandemic, the EU is, at the same time, the second largest exporter of vaccines,” said Dombrovskis.
From the EU’s point of view, things are so dire that experts argue that export restrictions should not cause shock or consternation.
“In a situation where 70 million doses were delivered to the EU and 40 million were exported, I really don’t think you need to be too shy,” said Guntram Wolff, director of the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel. .
“I would have preferred the Commission to have solved this problem earlier with better contracts, but from an ethical point of view, how can you justify sending a vaccine to the UK for a 30-year-old to be vaccinated, when one of 70 old man in Belgium still waiting? “
Wolff said that trading partners like Britain should give the EU some respite because of the circumstances, but noted that the more aggressive approach is risky.
“At the end of the day, how many more vaccines can you get and what is the risk? An escalation, a trade war and, if supply chains are interrupted, a negative net result for everyone because the overall vaccine supply is decreasing, ”he said.
Those were good reasons, he added, to keep the option of export control as leverage, but to avoid using it as much as possible.
Gaia Pianigiani contributed reporting from Siena, Italy; Monika Pronczuk of Brussels and Benjamin Mueller from London.