The European Union Announces a Plan For Stricter Controls on Exports of The Coronavirus vaccine

The European Commission introduced new controls on Wednesday, March 24, to restrict exports of coronavirus vaccines from the 27-member bloc.

Officials worry that drug companies will fail to meet delivery targets in the coming months.

The Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, wants to ensure that member states get all the doses they promised in Q2.

These vaccines will be crucial in reaching their goal of vaccinating 70% of the adult population in the European Union by the end of the summer.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that member states are facing the third wave of the Pandemic, and companies are not implementing their contracts, while the European Union is the only major producer in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that continues to export vaccines on a large scale to dozens of countries.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement that open roads must go in both directions.

The proposals are based on mechanisms already in place and will introduce two changes as EU member states will consider “reciprocity” and “proportionality” with their exports.

Consideration will be given to whether the destination country is restricting its vaccine exports, or raw materials, and whether the destination country is ahead of or lagging behind the European Union in launching the vaccine.

This tough stance from Brussels comes after it suffered setbacks in the number of vaccines provided by AstraZeneca.

Earlier this year, the Anglo-Swedish company said it could only deliver 30 million doses of its vaccine, which was developed alongside the University of Oxford, in the first quarter instead of about 90 million doses.