EU to block vaccine exports amid AstraZeneca delivery spat

The World Health Organization is warning against what it calls vaccine nationalism after the European Union launched a scheme that could block exports of coronavirus vaccines. It’s the latest development in a row between the EU and drug maker AstraZeneca. EU health authorities approved the company’s jab on Friday. But Brussels says it has failed to supply the vaccine in the quantities promised – and says the controls are needed to ensure export orders aren’t fulfilled first.
It was a dramatic decision, born out of desperation: Faced with diminished deliveries of the Covid-19 vaccine, the EU on Friday announced controls on vaccine exports. This threatened controls at the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Keeping the border open was a key EU demand in the drawn out Brexit negotiations, and the news was greeted with disbelief in the UK.
The move came as the World Health Organization expressed concern over resource nationalism. The EU swiftly rowed back, making clear that the Ireland-UK border would remain open. But controls of vaccine exports will remain in place.
The measure was prompted by drug maker AstraZeneca, which plans to delay deliveries of its vaccine to the EU, while maintaining full deliveries to the UK.
The row has not stopped the EU’s European Medicines Agency from approving AstraZeneca’s vaccine for use within the union. But with the producer unwilling to significantly ramp up the bloc’s deliveries, the approval is unlikely to boost an immunization campaign that is struggling to get off the ground.