[ad_1]
Hundreds of people received injections during a mass vaccination in Seattle, Washington. More than 100 million doses have been administered in the United States. PHOTO: Reuters
They are discussing the issue at a summit on March 25, it is expected to be physical. Don’t try to blame us, Borissov warned in a speech to Brussels.
The EU vaccination strategy has made mistakes with regard to drug applications, said the first vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, in an interview with Spiegel am Sontag.
“It is true that there were errors in the requests from both Brussels and the Member States,” Timmermans said. He asked not to rush and that evaluations be carried out only after the end of the pandemic, because “it may
to prove that we have acted
bad, but everything was made Right”
According to Timmermans, the blanket request for vaccines was the right decision. But this deal has benefited rich countries like Germany, he admits.
On Saturday, Bulgaria and four other EU countries (Austria, Latvia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic) called for an emergency EU summit to discuss a fairer distribution of vaccines in all countries. An official letter was sent to Brussels. A little later, Croatia joined them.
The authors of the letter, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic, Andrej Babis, of Latvia, Arturs Krishianis Karins, and of Slovenia, Janez Jansa, want the distribution of vaccines be proportional. to the population. The leaders of these countries criticize the mechanism according to which individual countries and pharmaceutical companies conclude additional supply agreements. This leads to a crisis in other countries.
In a letter addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the leaders emphasized the importance of European solidarity, which ensures that all Member States, large or small, have the same access to the limited resources currently available against COVID vaccines. . -19. If this proportionality is not respected, by the summer it would create huge differences between the Member States, and some could achieve herd immunity in a few weeks, while others would be far behind, according to the letter.
As early as Friday, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said vaccine supplies were disproportionate to the population because they had run out.
secret transactions between individuals
countries and companies,
that produce them. According to him, the secret contracts may have been signed within the governing bodies of the Council of the EU and with the participation of medical officials in Brussels. Kurz compared those secret deals to a flea market.
According to a senior EU official, who acknowledged receipt of the letter from the six countries, the issue could be debated at the European Council on March 25-26. “Before each meeting of the European Council, we receive letters to which we reply,” he added. The intention is that the encounter is physical, but this has not yet been confirmed.
The European Commission agreed with the allegations in the letter that the fairest decision on vaccine distribution is based on the percentage of the population of each country and this decision has been proposed by the EC in all advance purchase agreements. . At the same time, the EC recalls that the Member States have decided to deviate from this proposal, agreeing to take into account the epidemiological situation and the need for vaccination in each country.
“Now they shouldn’t try to blame us,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Sunday. “We do not want anything from the European Commission, except that it gives us what we have agreed to,” he remained adamant.
Borissov added that Bulgaria has always complied with European rules and acted in accordance with them.
“But since we have not signed a contract with the vaccine manufacturers, and the EC has concluded them, we ask the EC: when will the agreed quantities arrive for Bulgaria?” Said the Prime Minister. The only supplier that respects the agreements is Moderna, Borissov said.
The EC noted that the flexible policy agreed by the 27 allows countries in a more serious epidemic situation to have access to more doses if other countries agree not to take the proper amounts. The return to the proportional distribution of vaccines depends on the member states, stressed the EC and made it clear that it prefers this method.
[ad_2]
