BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on Friday it had agreed a plan to control exports of vaccines from the European Union by monitoring and authorisation, saying that the programme would run until the end of March.

EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference the export controls were "time limited and specifically applied to those COVID-19 vaccines that were agreed by advanced purchase agreements." Most of the EU's neighbours and poorer countries are exempted, Dombrovskis said.

The European Union has publicly rebuked Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca for failing to deliver vaccine shots as promised, with a shortfall of up to 60% in the first quarter. EU countries have also received fewer deliveries of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines than expected.