As Europe threatens to curb vaccine exports to Britain and other countries, the post-Brexit rift widens
By Rick Noack, Karla Adam and Quentin Ariès,
Dado Ruvic Reuters
BERLIN — The European Commission introduced new limits on coronavirus vaccine exports on Wednesday, in a move that could widen the rift between the European Union and its former member state Britain.
Though the revised rules do not constitute an outright ban, they will make reciprocity, a country’s epidemiological situation and its vaccination rate key criteria for export approval.
Expected to be in place for at least six weeks, the curbs could have a particularly strong impact on Britain, which has so far received more than 10 million doses from plants inside the E.U. — more than any other non-E.U. destination — but has exported no vaccines back to the bloc. Britain now has one of Europe’s lowest daily case numbers per capita and it has partially vaccinated more than 40 percent of its population, compared to just 9 percent in Germany and France.
[E.U. denies vaccine nationalism charge, accuses U.S. and U.K. of not sharing]
As it lags behind both Britain and the United States in its vaccination campaign, the E.U. has seen growing anger from its citizens and a resurgence of the virus that has forced new lockdowns. Officials lay much of the blame with British-Swedish vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca for failing to meet its production targets.
The path out of the pandemic is also being viewed as a critical post-Brexit test, pitting the 27-nation bloc’s communal approach against its former member’s go-it-alone model.
Britain’s departure meant it could negotiate is own vaccine deals without having to worry about unity or equity. It didn’t spend as long as the E.U. did negotiating prices or sorting through liability questions.
E.U. officials have defended their approach, saying it ensured that member countries weren’t competing with each other and poorer countries in the bloc weren’t left behind.
Officials have also cited the bloc’s commitment to supply other countries with doses produced within its territory, while Britain and the United States have not. Whereas more than 64 million doses had been distributed across E.U. member states and associated countries by the middle of this month, at least 41 million were exported outside the E.U.
“But open roads should run in both directions,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was quoted as saying in a release on Wednesday.
During a parliamentary committee session on Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was asked if he’d rule out retaliating against the E.U.
“Vaccines are the product of international cooperation,” he said, adding, “I don’t think that blockades of either vaccines or of medicines or ingredients for vaccines are sensible.”
He implied that the E.U. could lose its status as a welcome home to Big Pharma if shipments were stopped.
“I would just gently point out to anybody considering a blockade, or interruption of supply chains, that companies may look at such actions and draw conclusions about whether or not it is sensible to make future investments in countries where arbitrary blockades are imposed,” he said.
Francisco Seco
AP
A man receives his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in a mass vaccination site at the Brabanthal event center in Heverlee, Belgium, on Wednesday.
Afterwards, the British government and European Commission issued a joint statement, saying: “We are all facing the same pandemic and the third wave makes cooperation between the EU and UK even more important.”
The two sides said they would continue discussion about how to “ensure a reciprocally beneficial relationship” and expand vaccine supplies.
“In the end, openness and global cooperation of all countries will be key to finally overcome this pandemic and ensure better preparation for meeting future challenges,” the statement read.
European Council President Charles Michel singled out Britain and the United States two weeks ago for having “imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory.”
The Biden administration has since announced its intention to send some doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine — not yet approved for use in the United States — to Mexico and Canada.
Meanwhile, tensions between the E.U. and Britain have remained high, this week centering on doses produced at an AstraZeneca plant in the Netherlands. Both sides argue they should receive priority access.
An E.U. official said Wednesday the new criteria for vaccine exports are a way for the E.U. to “have a conversation with the U.K.” on vaccines “for the objective to not block exports, but to force AstraZeneca to produce for both the U.K. and the E.U.” The official did not expect exports of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be impacted, “as the company is respecting its contractual agreements with the European Union.”
European leaders are due to meet virtually on Thursday to discuss further measures at a summit that will also be attended by President Biden.
They are expected to endorse the revised export rules. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she is not in favor of a full ban, citing the risk that international supply chains could get disrupted as a result.
Until now, according to rules adopted in late January, E.U. members could only deny vaccine export requests if they deem a company to be in violation of its contractual obligations. That clause has been activated once, by Italy, to halt the export of 250,000 AstraZeneca doses to Australia.
Extra scrutiny by E.U. and Italian officials led to questions Wednesday about 29 million doses at a finishing plant outside of Rome.
AstraZeneca said 13 million were destined for lower-income countries through the COVAX partnership, and 16 million would be distributed to the E.U. later this month and next.
“It is incorrect to describe this as a stockpile,” the company said in a statement. “The process of manufacturing vaccines is very complex and time consuming. In particular, vaccine doses must wait for quality control clearance after the filling of vials is completed.”
While Europe’s vaccine rollout has been unexpectedly slow, the E.U. goal is to vaccinate 70 percent of adults in the bloc by the end of the summer.
People in low-income countries could be waiting until 2024.
Johnson took heat Wednesday for reportedly telling Conservative lawmakers that “capitalism” and “greed” were behind the success of the British rollout.
“The reason we have the vaccine success is because of capitalism, because of greed, my friends,” Johnson said, according to the Sun newspaper. He was speaking on Zoom to a group of Conservative lawmakers.
Unnamed government sources told various British media outlets that the comments were off-the-cuff and not about the argument with Brussels over vaccine supply. The Sun newspaper said Johnson told lawmakers on the Zoom call “I regret saying it” and “forget I said that.”
But to many scientists and public health experts, the remarks rang uncomfortably true, since wealthy countries have sapped up most of the vaccine doses and vaccine producers have opposed a push to waive intellectual property rights that could make it easier for developing nations to manufacture their own supplies.
Ariès reported from Brussels and Adam reported from London. Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli in Rome contributed to this report.
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