An employee pulls out a syringe and container containing the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine in Schwaz, Austria.
JOHANN GRODER | AFP | Getty Images
LONDON – The European Union is “facing a dire situation” in rolling out Covid-19 shots, but it is “highly unfair” to accuse the bloc of vaccine nationalism, the region’s chief of trade told CNBC on Tuesday.
Since the start of its vaccination program, the EU has been hit hard criticism, including for being too slow to approve vaccines and block exports of Covid-19 injections.
At the same time, delivery problems with the AstraZeneca vaccine have hit the deployment of shots during the first quarter and there are concerns in Brussels about whether contractual obligations will be fully met in the next three months.
“It is clear that we are facing a serious situation in vaccine rollout. We need to speed up vaccination, we need to speed up both the production and delivery of vaccines,” Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU’s chief of trade, told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is working with several pharmaceutical companies to boost vaccine production in the member states. The institution wants 70% of the adult population in Europe to be vaccinated by the end of the summer.
However, achieving this goal will depend on whether companies deliver the amount of vaccines the bloc expects, and on the ability of member states to distribute the shots to their populations.
AstraZeneca has already done it cut its first quarter delivery figures twice, saying it will divide less than half of its original target for the second quarter as well.
We think it is highly unfair to accuse the EU, one of the largest exporters of vaccines, of vaccination nationalism.
Valdis Dombrovskis
Executive Vice-President of the European Commission
Given the importance of the AstraZeneca injection to the EU’s vaccination program, European officials are considering whether to impose tougher export restrictions. For example, they could prevent shots produced in the EU from being sent elsewhere, particularly to the UK, where vaccination coverage is significant. higher than in the 27 countries.
This has been fueled allegations that the EU is practicing vaccination nationalism.
“We think it is highly unfair to accuse the EU, one of the largest exporters of vaccines, of vaccination nationalism,” said Dombrovskis.
The EU reported last week that it had exported 41 million doses of Covid-19 shots to 33 countries, the UK being the largest recipient. At the same time, the EU has said it does not see the same level of reciprocity in other parts of the world.
However, the EU also stopped shipping AstraZeneca vaccines to Australia earlier this month due to delivery problems with the pharmaceutical company.
Legislation that allowed the EU to stop this shipment will expire at the end of the month. As a result, EU officials are considering whether to expand and tighten these laws in the future.
“What’s important right now is that companies actually honor their contracts, because the problem we face, especially with one company not performing the contract, is that vaccine deliveries are far behind what was agreed,” said Dombrovskis.
Over the next three months, the European Union expects 55 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson injection, 200 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 35 million from Moderna and another 70 million from AstraZeneca.