EU countries could suspend supply of AstraZeneca vaccines to Great Britain / Article / LSM.lv

EU countries could suspend supplies of AstraZeneca vaccines to the UKUldis Ķezberis00:00 / 00:00

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More than half of the adult population in the UK has already received at least one dose of Covid-19, while less than 12% in the European Union have been vaccinated.

European Commission President Urzula von der Leiena last week threatened to suspend exports of AstraZeneca vaccines, if EU countries do not receive their supplies first.

Everyone takes care of themselves first

The EU-AstraZeneca agreement stipulates that vaccines must also be supplied from two sites in the UK, but so far no vaccine has left the UK for EU countries. AstraZeneca justifies that this situation has arisen because the British government has used the option in the agreement to block the export of vaccines until domestic demand is met.

The British government also wants the EU to allow the supply of AstraZeneca vaccines produced at the Dutch company’s Halix plant in Leiden. Brussels, on the other hand, insists that in-house vaccines must first reach EU Member States.

AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured by Halix have not yet been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), but this is expected on March 25. Once this has happened, Halix will be able to start supplying the vaccines to EU Member States.

Vaccine nationalism

A virtual meeting of EU leaders is scheduled to discuss the possibility of banning AstraZeneca vaccine exports to the UK on Thursday. The BBC reportsthat British Prime Minister Boris Johnson would call EU leaders ahead of the meeting to persuade them not to support a ban on vaccine exports.

Hellenic Wetley, Britain’s social welfare minister, is calling on the European Union not to get involved in “vaccine nationalism and protectionism”.

A similar warning has been issued by British Defense Secretary Ben Wolless: “The European Union knows that the rest of the world will watch the European Commission deal with this situation. If the agreement is broken, it will do a great deal of damage to the trading bloc, which is proud of the rule of law. It would also be counterproductive, as the development and production of vaccines is the result of cooperation. The European Union can undermine access to vaccines, not only for its own citizens, but also for those in many other parts of the world. The reputation of the European Union would be damaged, which would be difficult to repair in the short term. “

Europeans do not trust the vaccine

Even if the EU will soon be able to receive European-made AstraZeneca vaccines, many people may refuse to be vaccinated. The results of a YouGov survey published on Monday show that Europeans have seen a significant drop in confidence in the vaccine.

In Spain, for example, only 38% of respondents believe that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe. Previously, 59% of Spaniards thought so. Also in Germany, Italy and France the majority of respondents do not trust this vaccine, reports Reuters.

13 European countries have stopped using AstraZeneca vaccines in the last two weeks due to concerns about the vaccine’s involvement in blood clots. EZA announced on Thursday that AstraZeneca vaccine is “safe and effective”, however, a link between vaccine administration and thrombus formation in very rare cases cannot be ruled out.

No such link has been identified an extensive study in the United States, Peru, and Chile. More than 32,000 volunteers participated in the study.

The researchers concluded that the AstraZeneca vaccine was 79% effective in preventing Covid-19 and 100% effective in preventing severe disease. The researchers also report that the vaccine is effective in all age groups, including those over the age of 65, which had previously been questioned.

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