EU threatens to halt coronavirus vaccine exports to UK

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen criticised the British-Swedish firm on Wednesday for having “underproduced and underdelivered” to the bloc. Picture: Olivier Hoslet, Pool via AP

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen has threatened to halt the export of coronavirus vaccines to the UK amid an ongoing row over the supply of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab.

The European Commission president criticised the British-Swedish firm on Wednesday for having “underproduced and underdelivered” to the bloc.

And she said that the EU would consider blocking vaccine exports to countries with higher coverage rates than its own, as it struggles to achieve the pace of rollout managed elsewhere.

Under pressure and on the “crest of a third wave” of infections, Ms von der Leyen warned that she is “ready to use whatever tool we need” to ensure the reliable delivery of vaccines.

“We are exporting a lot to countries that are themselves producing vaccines and we think this is an invitation to be open, so that we also see exports from those countries coming back to the European Union,” she told reporters in Brussels.

“The second point that is of importance to us: we will reflect on whether exports to countries who have higher vaccination rates than us are still proportionate.

“We want reliable deliveries of vaccines, we want increase in the contracts, we want to see reciprocity and proportionality in exports and we are ready to use whatever tool we need to deliver on that.

“This is about making sure that Europe gets its fair share.” 

Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine doses for Europe and the UK are being produced in BioNTech’s German manufacturing sites, as well as in Pfizer’s manufacturing site in Belgium.

She said that the EU has granted 314 requests for vaccine exports and only has refused one since export authorisation was introduced on February 1.

“41 million doses have been exported to 33 countries.

“This shows that Europe is trying to make international cooperation work,” she said.

“But open roads run in both directions.

This is why we need to ensure that there is reciprocity and proportionality.

The EU rate of vaccine doses administered per 100 people stands at 11.81, according to a tracker from the Our World In Data website.

This pales in comparison to the UK’s rate standing at 39.04 and the US’s on 33.11.

Ms von der Leyen made clear that the UK is not a nation where she deems there is “reciprocity” in terms of vaccine supply, describing it as “country number one” in terms of exports from the EU.

“Where the UK is concerned, we have observed that in the last six weeks 10 million doses by now have been exported to the UK,” she said.

“Indeed the UK is producing AstraZeneca.

“In our contract with AstraZeneca there are even two sites in the UK that are put in the contract for potential deliveries for the European Union.

“We are still waiting for doses to come from the UK, so this is an invitation to show us that there are also doses from the UK coming to the European Union so that we have reciprocity.” 

Amid the row, multiple EU nations including France, Italy and Germany have suspended the rollout of the AstraZeneca jab in light of a small number of reports of bleeding, blood clots and low blood platelet counts.

The EU’s regulator, the European Medicines Agency, is conducting a full scientific review but has said it “remains convinced” that the “benefits of this vaccine outweigh the risk”.

The message was echoed by the World Health Organisation as UK leaders sought to reassure the public the jab was safe.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he will himself take the AstraZeneca jab “very shortly”.