BRUSSELS (PA) – The European Union on Friday introduced stricter rules on exports of COVID-19 vaccines that could hit shipments to countries such as the United Kingdom, deepening a dispute with London over the limited supply of life-saving fires.
But amid a cry in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom, the European Commission has clarified that the new measure will not trigger controls on shipments of vaccines produced in the 27-nation bloc to the small territory that is part of the UK, which borders the EU. , member with Ireland.
Under the post-Brexit agreement, EU products should be able to travel seamlessly from the bloc to Northern Ireland.
“In the process of finalizing this measure, the Commission will ensure that the Ireland / Northern Ireland Protocol is not affected,” the EU’s executive arm said in a statement late Friday.
Amid disputes with Anglo-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British leader Boris Johnson had an unexpected phone call during which the British prime minister “expressed serious concern about to the potential impact that EU measures today have had on vaccine exports could have, ”a statement from the British government read.
The EU has revealed plans to tighten rules on exports of coronavirus vaccines produced inside the bloc, amid fears that some of the doses it has provided from AstraZeneca could be diverted elsewhere. The measure could be used to block shipments to many non-EU countries and to ensure that any EU-based exporting company will first have to submit its plans to national authorities.
The governments of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland immediately took action, saying the bloc invoked an urgency clause in the divorce agreement with the United Kingdom in introducing export controls to Northern Ireland. The goods are supposed to move freely between the EU and Northern Ireland in accordance with special arrangements for the United Kingdom region, designed to protect the peace process on the island of Ireland.
But the EU later said it did not invoke Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol, allowing either party to cancel parts of their agreement.
“The Commission is not triggering the safeguard clause,” it said in a statement, adding that the restrictive regulations have not yet been finalized and will not be adopted before Saturday.
The phone call between von der Leyen and Johnson somewhat eased what quickly became a diplomatic hotbed.
“I agreed with the principle that there should be no restrictions on the export of vaccines by companies in which they fulfill their contractual responsibilities,” von der Leyen said in a statement.
The EU left AstraZeneca this week after the company said it would provide only 31 million doses of vaccine in the first shipments, instead of the 80 million doses it hopes to deliver. Brussels has claimed that AstraZeneca will provide even less than that, only a quarter of the doses due between January and March – and member countries have begun to complain.
The European Commission is concerned that doses destined for Europe could have been redirected from an AstraZeneca plant on the mainland to the UK, where two other company sites are located. The EU also wants the doses to be made available to European citizens at two locations in the UK.
“The UK has legally binding agreements with vaccine suppliers and would not expect the EU, as a friend and ally, to do anything to disrupt the performance of these contracts,” he said.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told German newspaper Die Welt this week that the British government had helped create the vaccine developed with Oxford University and signed a contract three months before the EU did so. Soriot said that under the British contract, vaccines produced at British headquarters must first go to the UK.
To allay similar disputes and allay fears that vaccines could be hijacked, the Commission has introduced measures to tighten rules on exports of fire to EU countries. The “Vaccine Export Transparency Mechanism” will be used at least until the end of March to control shipments to non-EU countries.
The EU has insisted it is not an export ban, although it could be used to block shipments to the UK or many other non-EU countries. Many poorer nations and close neighbors are exempt.
Officials said they intend to ensure that EU member states receive photos they have bought from producers. The World Health Organization has criticized the EU’s new export rules as “not useful”.
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other WHO officials have warned of supply chain disruptions that could affect the world and block the fight against COVID-19.
The “Advanced Purchase Agreement” with the EU was signed in August, before the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was properly tested. The European Medicines Agency approved the vaccine on Friday, becoming the third authorized for use by EU countries.
Earlier, the bloc of 27 nations and AstraZeneca released a heavily drafted version of their vaccine agreement, which is at the center of a dispute over the delivery schedule.
The contract, agreed last year by the European Commission and the drugmaker, allows EU member states to buy 300 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, with the option for another 100 million doses. It is one of the contracts the EU branch has with vaccine manufacturers to provide a total of more than 2 billion photos.
As part of an “advanced procurement agreement” with companies, the EU said it had invested 2.7 billion euros ($ 3.8 billion), including 336 million ($ 408 million) to finance the production of AstraZeneca serum in four factories.
Much of the 41-page document made public has been shut down, making it very difficult to determine which side is on the right. Details about the price of the vaccine have been drafted in particular. It is believed that the UK pays much more for the vaccine than EU countries.
___
Associated Press writers Danica Kirka in London, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed to this report.