The EU’s decision to implement export controls on coronavirus vaccines is “highly problematic,” according to experts, who warned it could lead to a collapse in global supply if other countries followed suit.
“There is a real risk that the EU making this decision will cause a cascade in other countries that impose export bans (vaccines),” Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Center Graduate Institute in Geneva, told CNBC on Monday. .
“There is a real risk that we will see a breakdown of the border vaccine movement, the same kind of breakdown we saw a year ago when countries, including the EU, blocked food and even masks and other essential medical supplies. “This is disastrous internationally.”
At worst, he said, “the biggest risk is that this will be an example that many other countries will follow and this will lead to a collapse in global vaccine supply.”
Export controls
On January 25, 2021, there was a queue to receive the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine made in China, outside the Belgrade Fair, which has become a vaccination center.
ANDREJ ISAKOVIC | AFP | Getty Images
While insisting the measure was not an “export ban”, it allows member states to restrict exports of coronavirus vaccines made to the bloc if they believe the vaccine manufacturer has not complied with existing contracts with the EU.
It contains exemptions for several countries outside the EU, but in Europe, such as Albania and Serbia, several North African countries and any of the 92 low- and middle-income countries covered by the COVAX initiative.
Moon said: “The EU has set certain pressure valves to allow exports to certain countries in the world, but there are still many countries that depend heavily on EU production and will be badly hurt. “
The blog made the announcement amid concerns and ugly public disputes with vaccine manufacturers over the lack of supplies on the blog.
Vaccine maker Pfizer said it was temporarily reducing production of its shot, developed with German biotechnology company BioNTech, as it improved production facilities in Belgium, while AstraZeneca also hit the EU by announcing it would deliver many fewer doses of vaccine than initially expected in the first quarter, citing problems in Dutch and Belgian plants.
The delays accumulated more pressure on the European Commission, which was already being criticized for its lack of speed in ordering and approving vaccines, and for its launch of vaccines.
The move to introduce export controls sparked outrage with the UK in particular, after a week of slow-fire tensions over the supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is also manufactured in two places in Britain.
The EU had indicated that supplies should be diverted to Europe from British plants, sparking a dispute with the drug maker and the UK government. It rose to the point that the EU said it would cancel part of the Brexit deal to prevent EU-made vaccines from potentially entering the UK via Northern Ireland.
He reversed that decision shortly after a public outcry, including the World Health Organization, which warned of the dangers of “vaccine nationalism.” The EU assured the UK that it would receive supplies of vaccines made to the bloc.
The Pandora’s box
Simon J. Evenett, a professor of international trade and economic development at the University of St. Gallen, said Monday that the EU measure is tantamount to opening the “Pandora’s box” and could have unintended consequences.
He said the restrictions could cause concern among foreign governments for a number of reasons, including the fact that “the standard for authorizing Covid-19 vaccine exports is unclear” and that such decisions “may be arbitrary.” It also indicated that it would not expire on March 31, 2021, as promised.
Evenett warned that the measure could “extend along the Covid-19 vaccine supply chain, to include vital ingredients they need to produce and distribute vaccines,” and may even lead to the export of ‘other essential goods such as food, energy and other medicines.
CSL staff are working on the lab on November 8, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia, where they will begin manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca-Oxford University.
Darrian Traynor | Getty Images
These scenarios “would aggravate the damage caused to both the EU’s public health systems and its multinationals,” he said.
“The disruption of vaccine supply chains will slow down inoculation rates in the EU and elsewhere, leading to unnecessary deaths and an even slower economic recovery. If the European Commission realizes that it is about to open the Pandora’s box, you may find an elegant way to withdraw the export control regime from the Covid-19 regime, “he said.
“Doing so would allow the EU to regain its reputation as an advocate of multilateralism and the rules-based world trading system. This morning that reputation is eroded.”