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European Union Commissioner for Financial Services Mairead McGuinness has said there must be a global focus on where vaccines are produced and the supply chains for their components.
In an interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr program, McGuinness said the delays in deliveries of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been very disappointing.
EU leaders will meet at a virtual summit on Thursday and she said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that everything is on the table.
He said the EU has been accused of vaccine nationalism, but insisted it has taken an international approach.
Ms McGuinness declined to be lured into the issue of the EU banning the export of vaccines to the UK, saying the decision is up to EU leaders on Thursday.
He said the EU has put everything on the table and been open and transparent, and that other global stakeholders should do the same.
He said it is important to find out what is happening in relation to vaccine production.
Ms McGuinnes said a global view is needed on where vaccines are produced and the supply chain for the various raw materials that go into the vaccine.
She said the AstraZeneca saga is well told at this stage and is hugely disappointing.
“European citizens are increasingly angry and upset that the launch of the vaccine is not happening as fast as we had anticipated.”
He said both the UK and the EU have contracts with AstraZeneca and he understands that the company is supplying the UK but not the EU.
“We are supplying the UK with other vaccines. So I think it is about openness and transparency and addressing citizens’ concerns. It is not about anything else.
“This idea of wars and nationalism, I really want to emphasize to get it off the table. Europe has been international in its approach to vaccines.”
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Defending how the EU has responded to Covid to date, he said: “Frankly, none of us have had a big Covid. I think we should all raise our hands and say that we are not prepared for this global pandemic, we did not do our thing. better at first, but now we are doing everything we can to protect our citizens. That is exactly what Europe is focusing on. “
He called for calm and said that the focus should be on increasing vaccine production while preparing for another possible variant.
“We have to be prepared for the what if. And we need another vaccine.”
He called for the allegations to be stopped and said in every minute of the current talks that sometimes it means forgetting the big picture.
“That the world has literally stopped spinning. And all the things we took for granted as a meal out, the summer vacation, seeing that the family has been destroyed due to an invisible virus. And we were not prepared for that, globally not only in Europe. “
He said we have learned the hard lesson. “We need to invest in public health, pharmaceutical supply chains.”
UK warns EU export ban would be ‘counterproductive’
Britain warned the EU against suspending exports of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccines if the bloc did not receive promised deliveries first, saying the move would be “counterproductive.”
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said “the world is watching” how the EU responds to a shortfall in inoculation deliveries from the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant, and that Brussels’ reputation is at stake.
Appearing on various political talk shows, Wallace said that trying to “balkanize or build walls” around vaccine production would harm both British and European citizens.
“If contracts and commitments are broken, it is very damaging for a trading bloc that prides itself on the rule of law,” he told Sky News.
“It is counterproductive because the only thing we know about vaccine production and manufacturing is that it is collaborative.
“They would not only undermine the chances of their own citizens to have an adequate vaccine program, but also of many other countries in the world with damage to the reputation of the EU that would be very difficult for them to change in the short term.”
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