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Germany is one of the biggest vaccine winners in the EU
“Bazaar” – Kurz denounces the distribution of vaccines in the EU
Austrian Chancellor Kurz denounces the uneven distribution of vaccines in the EU. There may have been parallel agreements between pharmaceutical companies and individual member states. Talk briefly about a “bazaar.”
Actually, Member States should receive vaccines according to the size of their population. But this distribution has changed, as a secret list shows. Austrian Chancellor Kurz talks about a bazaar.
SAnother new vaccine problem: The fair and targeted distribution of the corona vaccine is apparently not going as planned. This was the result of an investigation by the Austrian government. “Deliveries are not made according to the key population. When I shared this information with some heads of state and government yesterday, many could not believe what they saw and heard, ”Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) said on Friday.
“These delivery programs are clearly in contradiction with the political objective of the European Union, that is, that all member states should receive their share of the per capita vaccination doses,” Kurz complained. With his remarks, he was referring to a firm agreement between all EU governments in January to make the number of vaccine deliveries dependent on the population in the respective countries. The EU Commission indirectly confirmed the allegations, but ultimately blamed the development on the orders of member states along with the delays in delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
According to an internal list of the pre-delivery quantities of vaccines in the member states (as of March 9), which WELT has, it is clear that there are winners and losers of the previous distribution mechanism. After Malta (plus 155 percent), Germany is one of the two biggest winners. According to the list, Germany received 1.26 million doses of vaccines more than Berlin would have admitted according to the population code, that is, eleven percent of the total deliveries so far (12.39 million).
In simple terms, this means: The vaccination rate in Germany should be significantly higher than in other countries, and therefore the vaccination of the population should also be completed noticeably earlier. This would be a great advantage for the German economy. In contrast, the situation is particularly difficult for some states in southeastern Europe and the Baltic: Latvia has received 62 percent fewer vaccines than planned, while Bulgaria has 59 percent and Croatia 27 percent less.
According to the Austrian government, this all means that some countries could end vaccination coverage starting in May, while other countries may not have vaccinated their own population until late summer or fall. According to Chancellor Kurz, Malta will receive three times more doses than Bulgaria in relation to its population at the end of June. By then, the Netherlands had twice as many vaccine doses as Croatia.
Chancellor Kurz comments on vaccine production in Austria
Because the approval process in the EU is moving too slow for him, Chancellor Kurz of Austria is planning a vaccination alliance with Denmark and Israel. Kurz gave a press conference on the current state of production in Austria.
But how did this injustice arise? The EU Commission said the distribution would initially be based on population figures. However, this could be postponed if not all countries order according to their share. An example: Bulgaria mainly ordered the cheapest vaccine from AstraZeneca because the relatively poor country has to save.
Bulgaria’s original part of the vaccine doses of the expensive Biontech / Pfizer vaccine was later absorbed by other richer countries such as Malta, Germany or Denmark. As a result, these countries have more vaccines available than they should have been allowed. Now Bulgaria was also unlucky because AstraZeneca has so far delivered much less than originally promised. This is why vaccination rates in the Balkan country have so far been so low.
However, Kurz sees a second problem that has further aggravated the situation. Based on their findings, apparently special agreements have been reached in the EU steering committee responsible for the procurement of vaccines by members (these are senior officials from national ministries of health) in case there are vaccine quotas available. or additional delivery amounts, of which even the home governments should not have agreed.
That would not be new. In the context of so-called non-transparent comitology procedures on the precise implementing provisions of EU legal acts, for example in Brussels, this happens again and again. “There are indications that there should have been a so-called bazaar, where additional agreements have been made between member states and pharmaceutical companies,” Kurz said. The word “bazaar” is a common description in EU jargon. Kurz again indirectly attacked Clemens Auer, who as a representative of Austria even belongs to the two co-chairs of the EU steering committee.
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