EU warns ‘zero’ Covid vaccines will be shipped to UK unless Astrazeneca meets targets
Brussels has warned that “zero” Covid vaccines made in the bloc will be exported to the UK unless Astrazeneca meets its dose delivery commitments with the EU.
Thierry Breton, the EU’s internal market commissioner, hinted at the bloc’s plans to use European-made vaccines as bargaining power with Astrazeneca in an ongoing dispute about vaccine shortages across the continent.
Breton said “there is nothing to negotiate” between the UK and EU, despite tense discussions in recent weeks.
What’s the hold-up?
Under contracts signed with Astrazeneca last year, the bloc had expected to receive 120m doses from the Anglo-Swedish firm by the end of March, with a total 300m doses set to be distributed over the year.
However manufacturing issues at several of Astrazeneca’s drugmaking facilities forced the firm to revise down its target earlier this year to just 30m doses.
The significant drop has led to a fierce political tangle on the continent, with several EU countries banning the Astrazeneca vaccine and turning to alternative jabs.
The EU has also demanded that Astrazeneca vaccines made in European factories and destined for the UK must instead be reserved for the bloc.
European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen warned last week that the EU will consider applying export bans on vaccines if the UK does not comply.
Speaking today, Breton said vaccines produced at the Halix factory in the Netherlands and the Seneffe plant in Belgium must now be saved for the EU only.
“If [Astrazeneca] does more, we don’t have any issue, but as long as it doesn’t deliver its commitment to us, the doses stay in Europe,” said Breton in an interview. “There is no negotiation.”
How will it affect the UK?
The UK has ordered 100m doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine, almost all of which will come from British factories.
Around 10m doses are being made by the Serum Institute in India, though production hiccups mean an estimated 5m doses will be delayed.
It is thought that only a small number of the UK’s Astrazeneca vaccines are made within the EU, namely at the Halix site in the Netherlands.
Officials with knowledge of the UK-Astrazeneca contract told Politico earlier this month that the site has long been part of the UK’s vaccine supply chain, with the British government even sending a team to the plant in November to help boost manufacturing capabilities.
However, Breton has insisted that zero vaccines produced at the site have been sent to the UK since the EU introduced export restrictions earlier this year.
Since then, “everything has stayed in the EU,” Breton said.
Export controls
The European Commission implemented border controls on vaccines at the end of January after Astrazeneca announced it would fall short of planned orders for the EU in the first quarter of 2021.
Italy became the first country to trigger the vaccine export mechanism earlier this month, when it blocked the shipment of 250,000 doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine to Australia due to supply shortages in the Mediterranean country.
EU countries have now begun turning to alternative vaccines to plug supply shortages as leaders face mounting backlash over the continent’s sluggish immunisation programme.
Just 13.4 per cent of adults in the EU have received their first dose of a Covid vaccine, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s Covid Vaccine tracker. In comparison, around 57 per cent of British adults have received their first injection.
France and Germany held discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday night to supply doses of the country’s Sputnik Covid vaccine, while Hungary has already started administering the Russian jab.
The European Commission has maintained that “vaccination is progressing steadily in the EU,” with the bloc confident that 70 per cent of EU adults will be vaccinated by mid-July.