EU: Vaccine exports top 1 billion doses
BRUSSELS – The European Union’s top official said Monday the bloc has now exported over 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines around the world.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the vaccines have been sent to over 150 nations, making the 27-member bloc the largest exporter of the vaccines in the world, to nations including Japan, Britain, South Africa and Brazil.
Von der Leyen announced the EU will donate at least half a billion doses to middle- and lower-income countries affected most by the pandemic.
She insisted other nations need to increase their effort, too, and she will use next week’s G20 summit meeting in Rome to drum up support.
“We know that other countries also have to step up,” she said. “That’s the only way to beat the pandemic.”
Even though some shipments were briefly stopped from leaving the bloc in March to make sure big pharma companies respected contracts, the EU has been largely open to exporting, especially compared with some other nations such as the United States and Britain.