VACCINE EXPORT CURBS ENDANGER COVID FIGHT: UK
EU urged to honour commitments it made over its vaccine programme
Britain said that restrictions on the export of Covid-19 vaccines could endanger the global fight against the virus, adding that it expected the European Union to honour commitments it made over its vaccine programme.
“The global recovery from Covid relies on international collaboration. We are all dependent on global supply chains — putting in place restrictions endangers global efforts to fight the virus,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said on Friday.
The EU executive has backed Italy’s decision to block a shipment of 250,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia.
“The PM did speak to (EU) President von der Leyen earlier this year and she confirmed that the focus of their mechanism was on transparency and not intended to restrict export by companies... we would expect the EU to continue to stand by its commitments.”
Australia urged the European Commission to review its decision to block a shipment of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, as countries importing EU-made shots fear a potential impact on supplies.
One official said the Anglo-Swedish firm had initially asked Rome to ship even more doses to Australia, but then cut its request to 250,000 after a first refusal by Italy, where some of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccines are bottled.
“Australia has raised the issue with the European Commission through multiple channels, and in particular we have asked the European Commission to review this decision,” Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters in Melbourne.
Apart from the decision to block the shipment to Australia, the EU has authorised all requests for export since the scheme’s January 30 debut to March 1, which amounted to 174 requests for millions of shots to 29 countries, including Australia, Japan, Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Canada, an EU Commission spokeswoman said.
Almost all vaccines exported from the EU since the end of January are made by Pfizer and BioNTech, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said last week, with much smaller amounts being exported by Moderna and AstraZeneca.
The EU set up the mechanism to monitor vaccine exports after drugmakers announced delays in their supplies to the 27-nation bloc. It is now planning to extend the scheme until the end of June after it expires on March 31, EU officials said.
When asked about Italy’s move, French Health Minister Olivier Veran said that Paris could do the same, although at the moment it produces no Covid-19 vaccines.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said that drug manufacturers must honour vaccine supply contracts to Europe, but said Germany had not yet had any reason to stop shipments of shots produced domestically to other countries. While seeking the European Commission’s intervention, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he could understand reasons for Italy’s objection.
“In Italy people are dying at the rate of 300 a day. And so I can certainly understand the high level of anxiety that would exist in Italy and in many countries across Europe,” Morrison told reporters in Sydney.