EU vaccine squabbles as third wave locks down Italy
ANGRY EU member states are demanding urgent talks with the bloc’s leaders after claims of unfair vaccine distribution.
Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Bulgaria have written a joint letter to the European Commission and the European Council amid allegations of ‘secret contracts’ between some member states and pharmaceutical firms.
The bickering comes as a devastating third wave – triggered by the highly contagious ‘Kent variant’ of Covid-19 – continues to sweep across mainland Europe while the vaccine rollout is hit by continued delays.
It is now dominant in at least ten countries, including Denmark, Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Portugal.
The UK was hit earlier with this mutation, leading to growing natural immunity, while the rapid vaccination programme has also stymied the virus.
Cases in Poland are at their highest level in four months and Italy will go into another lockdown tomorrow with schools, restaurants and shops closing.
Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, claimed vaccines were not being distributed equally.
He insinuated ‘secret contracts’ had been signed by EU countries to acquire extra doses.
The letter, to Euro- pean Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel, says: ‘If this system were to carry on, it would continue creating and exacerbating huge disparities among member states by summer.’
The EU has maintained that population is the main factor for determining distribution and says that not all countries have taken up their full allocations.
However, some countries have started to make external deals, including Hungary, which is buying vaccines from Russia and China to ‘maintain public confidence’.
By the end of last week the EU had administered 10.6 doses per 100 residents compared with 29.7 in the US and 36.5 in the UK.
Poland is in the grip of a third wave and yesterday reported 21,049 cases – up 42 per cent from last Saturday – with 343 deaths.
Italy’s new prime minister, Mario Draghi, has also warned of a ‘new wave’ in the country, which last week became the second European state to record 100,000 deaths, after the UK.
In the Netherlands, new cases reached their highest level since mid-January, with more than 6,396 in 24 hours.