See EU later: Austria forges vaccine alliance with Denmark and Israel
Austria broke ranks with the European Union on Tuesday, vowing to work together with Israel and Denmark to produce vaccines against Covid mutations.
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Austria and Denmark would team up with Israel to create second-generation jabs and research treatment options.
The announcement is a rebuke to the EU’s joint vaccine procurement programme for member states.
The project has been criticised for being too slow to agree deals with manufacturers.
Patience lost
Production problems and supply chain issues have slowed deliveries to the bloc, delaying vaccine rollouts.
Kurz said the European Medicines Agency had been too slow to approve vaccines and criticised supply hold-ups from pharmaceutical companies.
He claimed that Austria will have to vaccinate 6 million people annually in the coming years, which is two-thirds of the population.
“We must therefore prepare for further mutations and should no longer be dependent only on the EU for the production of second-generation vaccines,” Kurz said.
Israel trip
The Austrian chancellor is due to travel to Israel this week with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to see the country’s rapid vaccine rollout up close.
The pair will inspect pharmaceutical firms distributing vaccines and speak to scientists and physicians.