EU Considering Eliminating Export Control Regime Exemptions
The European Union could remove exceptions to its COVID-19 vaccine export regime, expanding the controls to the rest of the globe, Bloomberg reported a senior EU official as saying. The current EU vaccine export control regime, put in place on Feb. 1, has many large exceptions, including Africa and the Middle East, to make sure that vaccine supply lines are uninterrupted and many poorer countries can receive the shots. However, until orders can be filled that the EU made with vaccine manufacturers, the country exceptions are on the chopping block as are protections to companies such as Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. until they fulfill their contracts, the report said.
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The exception elimination move marks the second report this week of the EU threatening to escalate its vaccine export control regime, with the EU recently signaling its preparedness to block vaccine shipments to the United Kingdom (see 2103220033). Until recently, the EU vaccine export control efforts have focused on British vaccine developer AstraZeneca, since the drugmaker is poised to fall short of its contract commitments to the EU while sending vaccines back to Britain. AstraZeneca is now expected to deliver only half of what it initially committed to by the end or March, promising 30 million shots to the EU.