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EU countries and the European Commission are already controlling the amount of vaccine leaving the EU. What’s new this time?
– The purpose of the previous temporary law was to prevent companies that mismanaged their deliveries to the EU from exporting vaccines manufactured in the EU. So far only Astra Zeneca has been dealt with and only one delivery has been stopped: 250,000 doses that were to be sent from Italy to Australia.
– The novelty is that the export restrictions apply to everyone, including the companies that manage their deliveries. In addition, the number of countries to which the restrictions apply is expanding. Previously, for example, deliveries in the immediate EU area such as Norway, Switzerland and Serbia were excluded. Now companies also have to inform them about deliveries.
– In this way, the European Commission wants Member States to be able to stop deliveries to countries outside the EU where the spread of infection is low and where a large part of the population is already vaccinated.
What does this mean in practice?
– There will be many difficult concessions for the customs authorities of the EU countries. Should this delivery be stopped or not? Astra Zeneca’s case was simpler. It was a company that mismanaged its deliveries. But should a Pfizer delivery to Israel stop now because vaccination there has come a long way? The EU runs the risk of creating significant friction with pharmaceutical companies and with other countries.
– On Wednesday, the message was that the EU would welcome exports. EU sources noted that under current rules, 380 deliveries have been given the green light, only one has been stopped. But with rising infection rates in many Member States and low vaccination rates, there is of course the risk that EU countries will push for their own population to always come first. These stricter rules, if used to the fullest, could be the closest thing to a strict export ban that exists in the EU.
What will be the effect of the vaccination rate in the EU and the rest of the world?
– It depends on how the EU countries use their powers. Basically, the effect will probably be marginal because the basic problem is that the demand for vaccines is greater than the supply. At worst, the new EU rules lead to a kind of ‘vaccine war’ in which other countries ban the export of substances or materials that cause bottlenecks in production and companies are prevented from manufacturing. entirely in their factories.
Read more: The EU wants it to be easier to stop vaccine exports
