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The European Union’s coverage of centralised approval and procurement of COVID-19 vaccines has seen the UK, which left the bloc final 12 months, race forward with its personal immunisation programme utilizing a mixture of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs.
The European Union’s (EU) high official has warned the bloc desires payback for the billions it “invested” in COVID-19 vaccines — and can now scrutinise all exports.
In a video tackle on Tuesday, European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen claimed “Europe” had funded growth of vaccines such because the Pfizer-BioNTech jab for the “world frequent good” — however now Brussels “means enterprise”.
She mentioned a “vaccine export transparency mechanism” can be set as much as regulate gross sales to international locations outdoors the bloc.
That got here after European Commissioner for Well being Stella Kyriakides tweeted on Monday that every one corporations making vaccines within the EU must inform Brussels prematurely of any plans to export them to non-EU nations. Pfizer’s predominant manufacturing facility for its jab is in Belgium.
Russia and the UK, two European nations outdoors the EU, have developed the Sputnik V and AstraZeneca coronavirus jabs. Each are in widespread use worldwide regardless of the European Medicines’ Company (EMA) not licensing them to be used within the 27 EU member states.
Von der Leyen’s nervousness over COVID shot exports could have been pushed by criticism of the sluggish roll-out of the EU’s immunisation programme in comparison with the UK, which departed the bloc a 12 months in the past and ended the post-Brexit transition interval on December 31.
The UK, with a inhabitants of below 67 million, has administered 7 million coronavirus vaccine doses, whereas the 27 EU nations, with virtually 450 million inhabitants between them, have given simply 9 million. The AstraZeneca jab has far less-stringent storage necessities than Pfizer’s, which have to be saved at -70 levels centigrade — severely limiting the variety of amenities outfitted to inoculate sufferers with it.
Brexit Vaccine for Brussels?
In the meantime rumours swirled by means of the media that the EMA had determined to reject British agency AstraZeneca’s utility for its Oxford vaccine to be authorized to be used within the bloc.
German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Monday that medical trial knowledge confirmed the jab was solely eight per cent efficient in aged sufferers. The German well being ministry was fast to scotch that declare, saying the paper had confused the proportion of check topics between 59 and 69 with the effectiveness.
“At first look, plainly two issues have been confused within the studies: Round eight % of the topics within the AstraZeneca efficacy examine have been between 56 and 69 years of age, and solely 3 to 4 % have been over 70 years of age,” the ministry’s assertion mentioned. “From this, nonetheless, an effectiveness of solely eight % in older folks can’t be derived.”
A British authorities supply was extra succinct nonetheless, telling the MailOnline the German report was merely “garbage”.
ITV political editor Robert Peston claimed to have the lowdown on the EU-UK row. He tweeted {that a} core group of EU international locations — Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands — organised because the ‘Inclusive Vaccine Alliance’ had positioned orders with the UK agency final June. However the EU Fee overruled that settlement, insisting that it should management procurement for the whole 27-nation bloc.
The identical deal was ultimately concluded two months later in August — main one pro-Stay supply at AstraZeneca to declare: “I perceive Brexit higher now”.
— Robert Peston (@Peston) January 26, 2021
And Nigel Farage, chief of the Reform Occasion — previously the Brexit Occasion — may hardly miss the chance to quote the Fee’s controls on vaccine exports vindicated Britain’s 2016 referendum vote to depart the EU.