Vaccines against covid-19: the escalation of tension between the EU and the United Kingdom due to the problems of distribution of the promised doses

The dispute between the European Union and the United Kingdom over the problems of distribution of the vaccine against covid-19 experienced its most hectic day on Friday, with a series of decisions and rectifications that reflect the existing tension due to the lack of the promised doses.

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At the center of this conflict is the pharmaceutical AstraZeneca, whose vaccine was approved this Friday by the European Medicines Agency for administration to all adults.

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However, the Anglo-Swedish laboratory acknowledged that it will not be able to fulfill the commitments to deliver its vaccine in the European Union, which raised criticism from the European authorities.

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Thus, the first surprise on Friday came with the publication by the European Commission dthe agreement signed by the European bloc with AstraZeneca last August 27.

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Some important data, such as the number of doses to distribute each month and their cost, were crossed out in the document.

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Image source, Reuters

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Another surprise occurred with the EU’s announcement of the establishment of controls on the export of vaccines manufactured in its territory, including those destined for Northern Ireland.

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According to the Brexit agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom, specifically the Protocol for Northern Ireland, all products that are exported from the EU to that nation belonging to the United Kingdom are exempt from controls.

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But the EU feared that this could be used to circumvent export controls, turning Northern Ireland into a kind of back door for bringing vaccines to the rest of the UK.

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This is why the EU invoked the article 16 of the aforementioned protocol, which allows parts of the agreement to be invalidated unilaterally.

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The outrage reactions were immediate.

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Image source, Reuters

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked the EU to clarify “urgently your intentions”.

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For her part, Northern Ireland’s Chief Minister Arlene Foster described the gesture as an “incredible act of hostility” on the part of the EU and regretted that Brussels pushed with something like vaccines, designed to save lives.

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And other Northern Irish voices spoke of “overreaction”, “serious mistake” and a way to establish a “hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

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Hours later, after a “constructive conversation” With Boris Johnson, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced an agreement in principle to avoid the need to invoke Article 16.

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“We have agreed on the principle that there should be no restrictions on the export of vaccines by companies when they fulfill their contractual responsibilities“, escribió Von der Leyen.

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Image source, Reuters

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It remains to be seen if the relative calm achieved late on Friday is maintained or if it is just a halt in the escalation of tension.

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But where does the problem come from?

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European vaccination plan

The European Union has been criticized for the slow pace of vaccination against covid-19 in its territory.

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The vaccination plan established in June 2020 allows the EU to negotiate the purchase of vaccines on behalf of its member countries. According to Brussels, this can help reduce costs and avoid competition between countries.

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Member states were not required to join the plan, but all 27 chose to do so.

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Image source, Reuters

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This does not prevent EU countries from reaching separate agreements with vaccine manufacturers that are not negotiating with the bloc. Hungary, for example, has pledged to buy two million doses of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine.

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What’s the fight for the AstraZeneca vaccine?

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was approved for use in the EU on January 29.

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The EU signed an agreement for 400 million doses in August, while the UK had ordered 100 million doses in May.

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But AstraZeneca announced supply problems, which it blamed on a series of difficulties at a factory in Belgium and another in the Netherlands.

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Authorities have not publicly confirmed how large the deficit will be. But an unidentified European official told the agency Reuters that distributions will be reduced to 31 million, a cut of 60%, in the first quarter of 2021.

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AstraZeneca said the fact that the EU contracts were signed later left less time to solve production problems and that, conversely, the signing of the UK contracts three months earlier gave more time to get around the obstacles.

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This drew criticism from the EU, which argues that it should not receive less doses just because the UK signed the contract earlier and stresses that AstraZeneca’s UK factories “have to comply”.

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The company acknowledged that its agreement with the EU allows the option to deliver doses to Europe from centers in the UK, but only after the UK has sufficient supplies.

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“As soon as we can, we will help the EU”said AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot.

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Image source, Getty Images

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The UK Government Minister, Michael Gove, pointed out that there will be no “interruptions” in the supply to his country, something that was, he stressed, “planned, paid for and scheduled”.

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These supply problems were what led to the announcement by the EU of the introduction of export controls on vaccines manufactured in its territory.

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What about the Pfizer vaccine?

The EU approved the purchase of 300 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech in December. But the consortium was unable to deliver the 12.5 million vaccines it had promised by the end of 2020.

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BioNTech chief Uğur Şahin explained that the delay was due to the EU wrongly assuming that several different vaccines would be ready at once and therefore doled out their orders.

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Şahin added that the company is doubling its manufacturing capacity.

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Image source, Getty Images

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Other countries that have been more successful in vaccinating their populations also approved the Moderna or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.

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The EU has now approved Moderna’s and is doubling its order for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to 600 million doses.

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But vaccination in parts of Europe was halted after Pfizer temporarily halted deliveries to increase production capacity at factories in Belgium.

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French pharmaceutical company Sanofi announced that it will help manufacture 125 million vaccines for the European Union starting this summer.

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There are supply problems with Moderna’s vaccine as well. Italy said it will receive 20% fewer doses in the week of February 8. France also said it expects to receive 25% fewer doses.

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How many people have been vaccinated?

Some 10.5 million people of the 448 million inhabitants that the EU has have been vaccinated as of January 29.

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In Germany, where 2.2 million people had been vaccinated as of January 28, the government has been criticized for lagging behind other countries despite the fact that BioNTech is a German company.

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Until this January 29, the number of doses administered in France was one million, in Italy about 1.7 million and in Spain about 1.4 million.

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For comparison, the UK had vaccinated more than 7 million people to the same date.

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What other vaccines is the EU buying?

The European Commission says it has signed agreements with five other pharmaceutical companies to buy hundreds of millions of vaccines once they pass clinical trials:

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• AstraZeneca: 400 million doses
• Sanofi-GSK: 300 million doses
• Johnson & Johnson: 400 million doses
• CureVac: 405 million doses
• Modern: 160 million doses

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Furthermore, the Commission concluded initial discussions with another company, Novavax, for a further 200 million doses.

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Image source, Reuters

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A spokesman for the European Commission told the BBC that the strategy of ordering vaccines from different suppliers is “fundamentally sensible” and can “ensure almost 2 billion doses for European citizens.”

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What role did Brexit play?

After the UK approved Pfizer’s vaccine in November (almost three weeks before EU regulators), there were those who argued that the country was able to move so quickly only thanks to Brexit.

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The BBC’s fact-checking service, Reality Check, investigated this argument and found that UK approval of the vaccine was actually allowed under EU law, something also defended by the head of the UK drug regulator.

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Image source, Getty Images

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The British government admitted that being outside the EU did make it more agile in this area.

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What about the EU vaccination plan then?

The UK could have joined the scheme last year while it was still in the transition phase with the EU (and following its rules), but chose not to.

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If it had, the UK might not have been able to reach as many agreements with vaccine manufacturers.

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The terms of the EU plan determine that participating countries must “agree not to launch their own procedures for the advance purchase of a vaccine with the same manufacturers” with which the EU signs a contract.

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However, the German government, a participant in the scheme, signed its own agreement with Pfizer in September to purchase an additional 30 million doses.

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In January, the European Commission declined to say whether this violates the terms of the EU plan.

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