MADRID, 24 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United Kingdom Government stressed this Wednesday that the process of development and distribution of vaccines against COVID-19 is “an international operation” and hopes to continue working with the EU to guarantee the supply of doses. “We are fighting the same pandemic,” he warned.
Shortly after the European Commission adopted changes to tighten the vaccine export control mechanism in order to guarantee the supply of the Twenty-seven, a British spokesman said that London “will continue to work with European partners to guarantee the distribution of vaccines. “.
“We are confident in our supplies and remain on time to offer first doses to everyone over 50 by April 15 and to all adults by the end of July. Our plan to cautiously reopen society also remains unchanged.” He added, alluding to the de-escalation in the making.
According to the latest changes announced by the Community Executive, the departure of vaccine consignments may be stopped, even if they are companies that are complying with the promised deliveries. Although the Commission also insists that “it is not directed against any specific country”, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, recently accused the United Kingdom and the United States of hindering exports to the EU and the matter will be addressed at the summit of European Heads of State and Government this Thursday.
Also the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, last week threatened the Government of Boris Johnson with blocking shipments to the United Kingdom if it did not facilitate the supply to the EU by AstraZeneca, a company that barely expects to comply with a third of the contracted by the Europeans.
In fact, since the mechanism started on February 1, the European Commission has received a total of 381 export applications and only rejected one at the beginning of March, when the export of 250,000 vaccines from this firm was prevented. from Italy to Australia.
This same Wednesday it transpired that Italy has located 30 million doses also of AstraZeneca in a plant in Italy, where the authorities inspected a plant south of Rome at the request of the Commissioner for Industry, Thierry Breton, for doubting the explanations offered by the pharmaceutical, according to the newspaper ‘La Stampa’.
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