India Leads Way As EU Restricts AstraZeneca Vaccine Export Amid Fears Of 'Vaccine Nationalism'

No matter which part of the world it is, Asia, Europe, Africa or America, there is a high demand for the COVID-19 vaccine and with the limited number of them approved and constraints faced by drug-makers mean that they can only produce a fraction of what is needed.

Right from the start, it was known that sooner or later this is going to lead to some serious confrontations between countries.

AFP

And it is already playing out in Europe, where British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca, which co-developed the Covid-19 vaccine with Oxford University has found itself entangled in a mess that also involves Brexit.

The troubles began last week after AstraZeneca said it can only deliver a fraction of its vaccine doses promised to the EU and Britain because of production problems, but both sides are demanding their pledges are met.

Reuters

"I expect the company (AstraZeneca) to deliver the 400 million doses as agreed," tweeted European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, as she announced the authorisation.

We have just authorised the @AstraZeneca vaccine on the EU market following a positive assessment by @EMA_News

I expect the company to deliver the 400 million doses as agreed. We will keep on doing all we can to secure vaccines for Europeans, our neighbours & partners worldwide

¡ª Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) January 29, 2021

The supply issue is a huge blow to Europe's already stumbling vaccine rollout.

The EU had threatened to restrict vaccine exports to Northern Ireland by overriding part of the Brexit deal with Britain that allowed the free flow of goods over the Irish border, but backed down after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson voiced "grave concerns".

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The European Commission will "ensure that the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol is unaffected", the EU commissioner said in a statement.

That came after the EU released a redacted version of its contract with AstraZeneca, while announcing a mechanism that could allow it to deny the export of vaccines made on European soil.

AP

India continues to send vaccine to other countries

On the contrary, in India, the biggest drug-maker in the world, several countries are lining up to place their orders, both for the Oxford-AsraZenic vaccine, which is being made in India by Serum Institute of India in Pune under the brand name Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, which is still in the clinical trial phase.

So far, India has exported millions of free doses to neighbouring countries in what is being described as "vaccine diplomacy",

Reuters

Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Morocco have so far bought vaccines from India and many more countries have placed orders.

Mexico plans to import about 870,000 doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine from India in February.

India is allowing vaccines to be exported around the world even as its own vaccination rollout is happening.

UN praise for India

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had recently praised the vaccine production capacity of India as the "best asset" that the world has today while calling for India to play a major role in the global vaccination campaign.

AP

"I know that in India there is a very high level of production of Indian developed vaccines. We are in contact with Indian institutions for that. We strongly hope that India will have all the instruments that are necessary to play a major role in making sure that a global vaccination is campaign is made possible," the UN chief had said.

The WHO had been for a long time warning about what it called 'vaccine nationalism'.

AFP (Director General Tedros Adhanom)

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus once again warned against "vaccine nationalism", in the context of EU-AstraZeneca tussle and said there was a "real danger that the very tools that could help to end the pandemic -- vaccines -- may exacerbate" global inequality.