Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico / Bloomberg
Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico / Bloomberg
The European Union will review all export applications AstraZeneca Plc’s vaccines in the UK are “very severely” and will likely be rejected until the pharmacist fulfills his delivery obligations on the block, a senior EU official said.
Responding to comments from UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on Sunday that the EU must honor its vaccine contracts, the Brussels official said it was not the EU’s responsibility to help Astra meet its commitments to the United Kingdom.
The EU has its own contracts with the company that are currently not being respected, and vaccines and ingredients produced in European factories will be reserved for now for local deliveries, the official said, asking that they not be named. because decisions are under consideration. and have not been made public.
The EU and the UK have had problems against vaccine exports since Astra informed Brussels it would not be in a position to deliver the shots it had promised on the bloc. The queue is becoming increasingly toxic, with both sides blaming each other for export fringes and nationalism, and some fear the shoulder could pose a risk to the fragile post-Brexit trade deal agreed last December. .
Wallace told Sky News that the EU must fulfill its vaccine contracts, even when slow deployment puts pressure on governments there.
“The commission knows deep down that this would be counterproductive,” he said. “They are under enormous political pressure European Commission. It would hurt EU relations worldwide if they renounced these contracts. “
The EU official said there are no pending applications for UK exports from Astra’s production facilities in the Netherlands, but that if an application is made, it will likely be rejected. . More than 10 million doses have been exported from the EU to the UK, although officials have said very few of these shipments were from the Astra vaccine and its ingredients.
“The Netherlands, in principle, allows exports to continue until the European Commission says otherwise,” a Dutch spokesman said on Sunday. “In order to avoid a turning point in which the Commission will take further steps in cooperation with the Member States, it is of the utmost importance that Brussels, London and AstraZeneca reach an agreement quickly on the vaccines produced by the company in facilities. which belong to both things. contracts “.
– With the assistance of Suzi Ring