EU THREATENS TO BLOCK EXPORTS OF the Belgian-made Pfizer jabs amid a row with UK-based AstraZeneca.

Brussels decided to impose tighter controls on exports after reacting with fury to the news that AstraZeneca will deliver 50 million fewer doses to the EU than it had expected.Ministers now fear deliveries of the Pfizer jabs will – at best – be delayed by extra paperwork and that the EU could try to stop doses being sent to non-EU countries after saying it will “take any action required to protect its citizens”.In March, the bloc imposed export restrictions on personal protective equipment after it struggled with supply to its member states.On Monday night, MPs accused the EU of acting out of “spite” and trying to deflect blame for its own mistakes in getting vaccination programmes off the ground.The EU’s health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, summoned AstraZeneca bosses to a series of video meetings on Monday at which she made clear that their explanations for the reduction in doses were unacceptable.Ms Kyriakides said an “export transparency mechanism” would be put in place “as soon as possible”, which would mean that “in future all companies producing vaccines against Covid-19 in the EU will have to provide early notification whenever they want to export vaccines to third countries”.She also demanded that AstraZeneca produces a list of how many doses it has provided to each country – information both the company and Downing Street have been desperate to keep under wraps.The UK is heavily dependent on the Pfizer vaccine and is expecting almost 3.5 million doses, integral to the Government’s target of vaccinating all over-70s by mid-February, to be delivered in the next three weeks.Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, had already warned that meeting that target will be “tight” and that any unforeseen supply issues could blow the chances of doing so off course.On Saturday, The Telegraph revealed that around half a million fewer doses of Covid vaccine would be delivered to the NHS this week because of supply delays.Speaking at a Downing Street press conference on Monday, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, hinted at potential supply problems, saying: “The rate-limiting factor to this vaccination programme remains supply. As we know, supply is tight.”So far, Britain has given 6,573,570 people their first vaccine dose, reaching 78.7 per cent of the over-80s. yahoo

EU threatens to block exports of Pfizer Covid vaccine

The EU threatened to block exports of the Belgian-made Pfizer jabs amid a row with UK-based AstraZeneca.Brussels decided to impose tighter controls on exports after reacting with fury to the news that AstraZeneca will deliver 50 million fewer doses to the EU than it had expected.Ministers now fear deliveries of the Pfizer jabs will – at best – be delayed by extra paperwork and that the EU could try to stop doses being sent to non-EU countries after saying it will “take any action required to protect its citizens”.In March, the bloc imposed export restrictions on personal protective equipment after it struggled with supply to its member states.On Monday night, MPs accused the EU of acting out of “spite” and trying to deflect blame for its own mistakes in getting vaccination programmes off the ground.The EU’s health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, summoned AstraZeneca bosses to a series of video meetings on Monday at which she made clear that their explanations for the reduction in doses were unacceptable.Ms Kyriakides said an “export transparency mechanism” would be put in place “as soon as possible”, which would mean that “in future all companies producing vaccines against Covid-19 in the EU will have to provide early notification whenever they want to export vaccines to third countries”.She also demanded that AstraZeneca produces a list of how many doses it has provided to each country – information both the company and Downing Street have been desperate to keep under wraps.The UK is heavily dependent on the Pfizer vaccine and is expecting almost 3.5 million doses, integral to the Government’s target of vaccinating all over-70s by mid-February, to be delivered in the next three weeks.Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, had already warned that meeting that target will be “tight” and that any unforeseen supply issues could blow the chances of doing so off course.On Saturday, The Telegraph revealed that around half a million fewer doses of Covid vaccine would be delivered to the NHS this week because of supply delays.Speaking at a Downing Street press conference on Monday, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, hinted at potential supply problems, saying: “The rate-limiting factor to this vaccination programme remains supply. As we know, supply is tight.”So far, Britain has given 6,573,570 people their first vaccine dose, reaching 78.7 per cent of the over-80s.

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