BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union on Friday introduced stricter rules on exports of COVID-19 vaccines that could reach shipments to countries such as the UK, deepening a dispute with London over the scarce supply of potentially life-saving shots.
But amid a cry in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom, the European Commission made it clear that the new measure will not trigger controls on shipments of vaccines produced in the 27-nation bloc to the small territory that is part of the United Kingdom. border with EU member, Ireland.
Under the post-Brexit agreement, EU products should be able to travel unhindered from the bloc to Northern Ireland.
“In the process of finalizing this measure, the Commission will ensure that the Ireland / Northern Ireland Protocol is not affected,” the EU executive arm said in a statement on Friday.
Amid a dispute with Anglo-Swedish pharmacist AstraZeneca, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British leader Boris Johnson had an unexpected phone call, during which the British Prime Minister “expressed his grave concern about the potential impact that EU steps have taken “Today on vaccine exports could be there,” a statement from the British government said.
The EU announced plans to tighten rules on exports of coronavirus vaccines produced within the bloc, fearing that some of the doses it obtained from AstraZeneca could be diverted elsewhere. The measure could be used to block shipments to many non-EU countries and ensure that any EU-based exporting company has to first submit its plans to national authorities.
The governments of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland immediately challenged the decision, saying the bloc invoked an emergency clause in its divorce agreement with Britain to introduce controls on exports to Northern Ireland. Goods are supposed to flow freely between the EU and Northern Ireland under special arrangements for the UK region designed to protect the peace process on the island of Ireland.
But the EU later said it did not invoke Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol which allowed either party to annul parts of its agreement.
“The Commission is not triggering the safeguard clause,” he said in his statement, adding that the restrictive regulations have not yet been finalized and will not be adopted before Saturday.
The phone call between von der Leyen and Johnson facilitated a bit what was quickly becoming a diplomatic flashpoint.
“We agreed on the principle that there should be no restrictions on the export of vaccines by companies where they fulfill contractual responsibilities,” von der Leyen said in a statement.
The EU came out to AstraZeneca this week after the company said it would only supply 31 million doses of vaccine in initial shipments, instead of the 80 million doses it hoped to deliver. Brussels claimed that AstraZeneca would supply even less, only a quarter of the outstanding doses between January and March, and member countries began to complain.
The European Commission is concerned that doses destined for Europe may have been diverted from an AstraZeneca plant to the mainland in the UK, where the company has two other locations. The EU also wants doses to be made available to European citizens in two places in Britain.
“The UK has legally binding agreements with vaccine suppliers and would not expect the EU, as a friend and ally, to do anything to disrupt compliance with these contracts,” the UK said.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told the German newspaper Die Welt this week that the UK government helped create the vaccine developed with Oxford University and signed his contract three months before he did so. the EU. Soriot said that under the British contract, vaccines produced at UK sites must go to the UK first.
To combat similar disputes and dispel fears that vaccines could be diverted, the Commission introduced measures to tighten rules on exports of shots produced in EU countries. The “vaccine export transparency mechanism” will be used at least until the end of March to control shipments to non-EU countries.
The EU insisted that this is not an export ban, although it could be used to block shipments to the UK or many other non-EU countries. Many poorer nations and nearby neighbors are exempt.
Officials said the aim is to ensure that EU member states receive the opportunities they bought from producers. The World Health Organization criticized that the new EU export rules “are not useful”.
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other WHO officials warned of supply chain disruptions that could affect the world and potentially slow down the fight against COVID-19.
The “advanced purchasing agreement” with the EU was signed in August, before the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine had been properly tested. The European Medicines Agency approved the vaccine on Friday, making it the third authorized for use by EU countries.
Earlier, the 27-country bloc and AstraZeneca released a heavily drafted version of their vaccine agreement, which is at the center of a dispute over the delivery schedule.
The contract, agreed last year by the European Commission and the drug manufacturer, allows EU member states to buy 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with an option for 100 million more doses. It is one of several contracts the EU executive has with vaccine manufacturers to ensure a total of more than 2 billion shots.
As part of an “advanced purchasing agreement” with companies, the EU said it has invested 2.7 billion euros ($ 3.8 billion), including 336 million ($ 408 million) to finance the production of whey. ‘AstraZeneca in four factories.
Much of the 41-page document that was made public went blank, making it very difficult to establish which side is on the right. Details on the price of the vaccine were remarkably drafted. It is believed that the UK pays much more for the vaccine than EU countries.
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Associated Press writers Danica Kirka in London, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, and Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed to this report.