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The European Union is now subjecting the export of vaccines to third countries to strict controls. You will not need a permit to export to Switzerland.
EU Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides presents the vaccine export mechanism together with Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis.
Photo: Thierry Monasse (Getty Images)
After all, Switzerland is on the safe side. Manufacturers of corona vaccines in the EU now need a license if they export their preparations to third countries. Switzerland Along with 90 neighboring countries, the Balkans and developing countries, it is explicitly excluded from the new control mechanism from the beginning. Unlike a year ago, when Switzerland was temporarily unable to import respiratory masks and protective gloves.
Europe first?
This time it’s about something completely different anyway. In fact, the control mechanism is directed almost exclusively against Great Britain. In the background is the suspicion that the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has diverted pre-financed doses of vaccination from Brussels to Britain. No, it is not about “Europe first”, said EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides: “What we want is a fair insurance policy.” The EU has made a large amount of money available so that vaccine manufacturers can start pre-production before approval.
AstraZeneca has been specifically awarded € 336 million to be able to fulfill its contractual obligations. For the EU, it’s about protecting this investment and taxpayers’ money, Kyriakides said. The contract between the EU and the manufacturer explicitly lists two plants in Great Britain and one in the Netherlands and in Germany. There the company was supposed to produce on standby until approval.
EU approval for AstraZeneca also for people over 65
In the UK, the AstraZeneca vaccine was approved by emergency regulation in early January. For the EU, the European Medical Agency (EMA) issued the approval on Friday, unlike Germany, without restrictions for people over 65. The EU Commission will formally confirm the decision over the weekend. In Switzerland, Swissmedic should follow in early February. Administration of the vaccine doses could begin immediately. However, AstraZeneca recently alarmed customers that they would only be able to deliver a third of the agreed 80 million cans to EU customers by the end of March.
AstraZeneca is known to have gotten off to a rocky start at their UK production facilities. Therefore, suspicions arose that the group had sent vaccination doses from their plants in Belgium or Germany to Great Britain, which were actually intended for the start of vaccination in the EU. If necessary, AstraZeneca must now supply the EU from its British plants, it is said in Brussels. Tensions are inevitable between the EU and the UK.
