by Fatihah
photo by twitter
BELGIUM - The European Commission launched a scheme yesterday for monitoring including restricting exports of Covid-19 vaccine products from factories in the European Union (EU).
The announcement comes amid a dispute with British-Swedish coronavirus vaccine giant AstraZeneca.
The World Health Organization (WHO) condemned the EU's approach and the approach was seen as provoking a stockpiling conflict with the United Kingdom (UK) after London and Brussels signed a trade agreement.
The EU plan only applies to coronavirus vaccines subject to European Commission and pharmaceutical firms' preliminary purchase agreements.
Companies in the EU need to apply for permission to export vaccine doses to a country outside the bloc (EU) and submit export records three months in advance.
Most non-EU countries and around Europe, such as Switzerland, the Balkan countries or micro-countries such as Monaco, are excluded from the move.
EU officials insisted that the scheme was not aimed at AstraZeneca but at all existing exporters of the Covid-19 vaccine contracted by the European Commission.
According to him, the main goal is to gather information but at the same time, they acknowledge ‘there are certain conditions’, vaccine exports may be rejected.
"What we want is definitely a fairer and more transparent approach. Vaccines are a very strategic product at certain times, "said an official without revealing his name.
Authorities say the EU portfolio in vaccine purchases is 2.5 billion doses involving approved vaccines and vaccine candidates. In the EU, the bloc only has a population of 450 million.
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