EU could block vaccine exports in some cases to claim dibs on vaccines
EU Debates | eudebates.tv
2021-02-01
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European Union will shortly begin monitoring exports of COVID-19 vaccines in the 27-nation bloc and could block exports if the vaccine maker has not fulfilled its commitments to the bloc, EU officials said on Thursday. https://www.eudebates.tv/debates/eu-policies/business-eu-policies/eu-astrazeneca-logic-can-only-work-at-the-neighbourhood-butchers/
The European Commission is to give full details on Friday of its monitoring and authorisation system, brought in following shortfalls of vaccine deliveries announced by AstraZeneca and by Pfizer and BioNTech.
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“We are now in a situation where we have lack of clarity on vaccine deliveries which creates concerns for all of us and most of all for our citizens. We are obliged to look for a solution to this situation,” an EU official said.
Under the system, any producer planning to export vaccines from the European Union would have to send its plans to the authorities of one of the 27 EU countries.
“It’s not an export ban.. but we want to know whether it goes in the right direction and that, according to the criteria, could end in a refusal,” a second EU official said.
This could, for example, impact supplies of the Pfizer vaccine to Britain or Canada, which receive their doses from Pfizer’s plant in Belgium.
The system, which could be operational within days, is designed to last until the end of the first quarter, although it could be extended.
Exports for humanitarian purposes or to the global COVAX facility, designed to deliver doses to lower income countries.
From mid-March to mid-May, the European Union required exporters of protective equipment such as masks to secure authorisation from the EU country where they were located. In the case of masks, applications for about a quarter of all exports were rejected.
EU brandishes export ban to claim dibs on vaccines
After production setbacks by Pfizer and AstraZeneca, Commission announces measures to block international shipments.
It's not quite Europe First, but when it comes to coronavirus vaccines, the European Commission warned Thursday that it won't stand for EU Second.
Amid an angry fight with the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca over a vaccine production shortfall, the Commission said it will seek to impose a mechanism on Friday by which EU countries will be able to block vaccine exports if the EU's own purchase orders have not yet been filled.
It is a drastic step, raising a specter of Trumpian protectionism that goes against the EU's core self-image as a proselytizer of free trade, proponent of multilateralism and professed champion of global equity, particularly in the distribution of vaccines, which has been a personal priority of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen since the outset of the pandemic.
The European Commission is to give full details on Friday of its monitoring and authorisation system, brought in following shortfalls of vaccine deliveries announced by AstraZeneca and by Pfizer and BioNTech.
#eudebates #Covid_19 #coronavirus #Corona #COVD19 #Health #COVID #vaccine #CureVac #Moderna #AstraZeneca
“We are now in a situation where we have lack of clarity on vaccine deliveries which creates concerns for all of us and most of all for our citizens. We are obliged to look for a solution to this situation,” an EU official said.
Under the system, any producer planning to export vaccines from the European Union would have to send its plans to the authorities of one of the 27 EU countries.
“It’s not an export ban.. but we want to know whether it goes in the right direction and that, according to the criteria, could end in a refusal,” a second EU official said.
This could, for example, impact supplies of the Pfizer vaccine to Britain or Canada, which receive their doses from Pfizer’s plant in Belgium.
The system, which could be operational within days, is designed to last until the end of the first quarter, although it could be extended.
Exports for humanitarian purposes or to the global COVAX facility, designed to deliver doses to lower income countries.
From mid-March to mid-May, the European Union required exporters of protective equipment such as masks to secure authorisation from the EU country where they were located. In the case of masks, applications for about a quarter of all exports were rejected.
EU brandishes export ban to claim dibs on vaccines
After production setbacks by Pfizer and AstraZeneca, Commission announces measures to block international shipments.
It's not quite Europe First, but when it comes to coronavirus vaccines, the European Commission warned Thursday that it won't stand for EU Second.
Amid an angry fight with the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca over a vaccine production shortfall, the Commission said it will seek to impose a mechanism on Friday by which EU countries will be able to block vaccine exports if the EU's own purchase orders have not yet been filled.
It is a drastic step, raising a specter of Trumpian protectionism that goes against the EU's core self-image as a proselytizer of free trade, proponent of multilateralism and professed champion of global equity, particularly in the distribution of vaccines, which has been a personal priority of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen since the outset of the pandemic.
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