EU to extend vaccine export monitoring scheme

The European Union will prolong the use of its oversight mechanism on coronavirus vaccine exports for another two months, senior officials said Thursday.

Under the measure, which will now continue until the end of June, manufacturers that have signed advance purchase agreements with the European Commission must make a declaration if they intend to export doses outside the bloc.

This was brought in after British-Swedish drugs giant AstraZeneca failed to meet promised delivery schedules to EU members while honouring its British contract.

Brussels insists the measure is not intended as a blanket ban. It has been used to prevent exports once, when Italy intervened last week to prevent AstraZeneca exporting a batch of vaccines to Australia.

"Since the measure was introduced, shipments were authorised to more than 30 countries," EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said.

"This confirms that even during a very critical health situation, the EU has made a considerable effort to be a reliable and responsible trading partner."

The World Health Organization has criticised measures restricting vaccine exports and warned against "vaccine nationalism" undermining global efforts to defeat the pandemic.

Figures related to the export monitoring scheme, shared with EU diplomats and seen by AFP, reveal that 34 million doses of vaccines produced in the EU were exported to countries outside the bloc between February 1 and March 9.

Brussels has accused London of operating a de facto export ban, a claim furiously denied by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government.

EU pressures AstraZeneca

EU officials are in a dispute with UK-based AstraZeneca over the supply shortfall, which has undermined the bloc members' huge collective vaccine purchasing effort.

The EU contract with the company specifies that doses are to come from factories in both the EU and the UK, but so far the British plants have exclusively focused on the British contract.

"The EU exports very significant volumes of Covid-19 vaccines, true to our commitment to global solidarity," Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said.

"Yet not all companies are honouring their agreements with the EU despite having received a down-payment to enable sufficient production," she said.

"We will insist that compliance is ensured and we will continue to work with companies to ramp up production in Europe as quickly as possible."

The European Commission has not ruled out launching legal action and there have been calls in some capitals for an EU export ban.

But so far the only concrete action was last week's decision to block the shipment of 250,000 AstraZeneca doses to Australia.