The European Union has warned that it will stop supplying vaccines to the UK if London does not comply with agreed shipments.

The president of the European Commission (THIS), Ursula von der Leyen, explained on Wednesday that the European Union (EU) is considering suspending vaccine exports to the United Kingdom if the country continues without sending doses of the drug AstraZeneca to the EU which is produced in UK factories.

During a press conference, Von der Leyen explained that European companies have exported ten million vaccines to the UK in the past six weeks, which places it as the third country which receives the most vaccines produced in Europe, while the EU is “still waiting” for doses of AstraZeneca produced on British soil.

Most of the EU’s concerns center on the UK, AstraZeneca vaccine houseThe vaccination campaign has progressed there at a much faster rate than on the continent.

Brussels accused London to enforce de facto export ban to ensure success of vaccination campaign, a claim that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has furiously denied.

“In our contract with AstraZeneca, there are even two factories in the UK that are included for the potential delivery of vaccines to the EU. We are still waiting for the doses to arrive from the UK. It’s an invitation to show us that there will be doses from the UK reaching the EU, so that there is reciprocity “, señaló Von der Leyen.

According to EC figures, since February 340 requests were approved to send 41 million vaccines to 33 different countries while only one destined for Australia was rejected, which shows, in his opinion, that the Union is trying to implement “international cooperation”.

However, he warned, it “must work both ways” and asked “Reciprocity and proportionality” so that the EU also receives these medicines from abroad.

“If the situation does not change, we will have to think about how to make exports to producing countries dependent on their level of openness”, warned the President of the EC, who declared that the European Union is “ready to use any instrument at our disposal” to achieve this reciprocity.

“It is difficult to explain to our citizens why vaccines produced in the European Union are exported to countries which also produce vaccines, but the EU receives nothing. We want to see the flow in both directions ”, added.

Europe’s vaccination campaign has struggled to take off amid delivery delays and a heated conflict with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and concerns about the safety of its vaccine.

“CRSISI OF THE CENTURY”

The former German defense minister said that “All options are on the table” to resolve the problem and that the vaccine situation will be addressed among EU leaders in discussions next week.

“We are in the crisis of the century. And I’m not excluding anything for the moment ”, he said, briefly referring to the emergency powers used during the OPEC oil crisis of the 1970s.

Von der Leyen gave his warning when Brussels unveiled its draft health certificate of vaccination, part of its efforts to free travel on the block despite the emergence of a third wave of the pandemic.

The certificate will display “whether the person has been vaccinated, recently tested negative or has recovered from Covid and therefore has antibodies ”, dijo von der Leyen.

The idea is to allow Vaccinated tourists bypass restrictions on non-essential travel which spread across Europe as a second and third wave of Covid-19 infections crippled many travel within the EU.

“With this digital certificate, our aim is to help Member States restore freedom of movement in a safe, responsible and reliable manner”.

The plan, however, will face a strong resistance from many Member States, A major concern is that those still waiting to receive the vaccines would face discrimination.

In addition, some member states fear that the legal procedure for creating the laissez-passer, which would include the approval of the European Parliament, will take too long, with the summer vacation being just three months away.

Commission insists process can be speeded up and is working to prepare it by June.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

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