World News

E.U. Makes a Sudden and Embarrassing U-Turn on Vaccines


BRUSSELS — The European Union early Saturday abruptly reversed an attempt to restrict vaccine exports from the bloc into Britain via Northern Ireland, the latest stumble in the continent’s faltering vaccine rollout.

The bloc had come under harsh criticism on Friday from Britain, Ireland and the World Health Organization when it announced plans to use emergency measures under the Brexit deal to block Covid-19 vaccines from being shipped across the Irish border into Britain.

The reversal came as the European Commission and its president, Ursula von der Leyen, were already under fire for the comparatively slow rollout of vaccinations in the 27 member states, especially compared with Britain and the United States.

The Commission announced the restrictions without consulting member states or Britain, a former member — unusually aggressive behavior that is not typical of the bloc, said Mujtaba Rahman, the head of Europe for the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain spoke to both leaders. And Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland’s first minister, called the bloc’s move “an incredible act of hostility.”

The World Health Organization joined in the criticism of the E.U. export controls, saying that such measures risked prolonging the pandemic. Its director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Friday that “vaccine nationalism” could lead to a “protracted recovery.” Mariangela Simao, the assistant director-general for access to medicines, on Saturday called the move part of a “very worrying trend.”

After talking to Mr. Martin and Mr. Johnson and getting advice from the European Union ambassador in London, Ms. von der Leyen posted a tweet after midnight saying that “we agreed on the principle that there should not be restrictions on the export of vaccines by companies where they are fulfilling contractual responsibilities.”

The bloc still intends to introduce export controls that could prevent any vaccines made in the European Union from being sent to non-E.U. countries, but without involving Northern Ireland, which in any event gets its vaccines from Britain.

Earlier in the week, the Commission and Ms. von der Leyen had accused the British-Swedish company of not living up to its contract. They suggested that AstraZeneca, which is working with a vaccine developed at the University of Oxford, was giving Britain preferential treatment and even sending some vaccines made in the European Union there instead.

AstraZeneca disputed the charge, and its chief executive officer, Pascal Soriot, insisted that the contract with the European Union required only “best reasonable efforts” to meet delivery schedules.

Britain signed its own contract with the company three months before the European Union did, Mr. Soriot said, and under that contract, vaccines produced in Britain must go there first.



Sahred From Source link World News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *