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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen upped the ante in an ongoing dispute with AstraZeneca on Saturday, threatening to block vaccine exports if the pharma firm did not meet its delivery targets.
“We have the option of banning a planned export. That’s the message to AstraZeneca: you fulfil your contract with Europe first before you start supplying to other countries,” von der Leyen told Germany’s Funke newspaper group.
The Commision has been in a standoff with the Swedish-British pharmaceutical company since January when it became clear that AstraZeneca would not meet delivery pledges made in its purchase contract.
France’s European Affairs minister Clement Beaune reiterated the country’s support for Ms von der Leyen’s position. "We need a principle of reciprocity: supply others if they supply us in accordance with signed contracts," he told AFP. Europe must "defend its interests."
Mrs von der Leyen wants preliminary discussions of the idea at Thursday’s European Council summit in Brussels.
Germany, Italy and Denmark were supportive of the ideas at Thursday’s meeting of senior diplomats but the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Sweden and Ireland are concerned that the move could hurt European supply chains and businesses if a vaccines trade war was to escalate.
The vaccine rollout across continental Europe got off to a slower start than in the UK, as Brussels chose to wait for full approvals by the European Medicines Agency and thus uphold liability for suppliers.
Since then, the bloc has been hit by supply problems, with both Pfizer and AstraZeneca initially falling behind on commitments.
While production of the Pfizer vaccine has since come back on track, supply issues with AstraZeneca persist.
How are different countries' vaccine rollouts progressing?
“There are a number of outstanding issues with regard to the contract that we now need to clarify, to this end we have sent a formal reminder to AstraZeneca,” von der Leyen said, adding that Europe had only received 30 per cent of the agreed quantity for the first quarter.
Stating that its contract committed AstraZeneca to supplying doses produced in the UK, the Commission boss said that “we have received nothing from the British, while we are supplying them with vaccines.”
Klaus Hinterding, deputy head of AstraZeneca Germany, told die Welt that shortages were "due to the complexity of the production process" but he defended the company’s record of "setting up a global supply chain and production in record time… without compromising on safety or quality."
The EU introduced export controls on vaccines produced in the bloc in January although this measure has so far only been used once when Italy blocked a batch of 250,000 AstraZeneca vaccines destined for Australia.
In some European countries, there are excess supplies of the AstraZeneca jab, despite the supply issues.
While the reasons for these excesses aren’t always clear, in Germany the vaccine does not enjoy a good reputation due to anecdotal reports of more severe side effects than with the Pfizer jab.
Decisions by several countries in the EU to suspend use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on suspicion that it causes blood clots served to further tarnish its reputation.
Even after the EMA declared it “safe and effective” on Thursday, Denmark announced that it would conduct further research before resuming its use.
Meanwhile French authorities have only recommended it for people aged over 55 after a review showed that incidents of thrombosis in connection with the jab were all in people under that age.
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