BRUSSELS (BELGIUM) – The European Union is aiming for an extension of its export authorisation scheme for COVID-19 vaccines towards the end of June, two EU sources told on Thursday. This move could rekindle tensions with countries who are reliant on shots made in the EU.
The mechanism was initiated at the end of January as a reaction to announcements by vaccine makers about delays, when it comes to the deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines to the EU.
It is likely to expire at the end of March, however, the European Commission wants to extend it through June, as per the two officials.
One senior EU diplomat said, “The Commission will propose its extension into June. And that was greeted by the member states with approval, not necessarily enthusiasm, but there is a feeling that we still need that mechanism.”
The second official added that at a meeting with EU diplomats on Wednesday, many countries backed the measure, which includes bigshots such as Germany and France.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has also urged for sanctions on companies, which fails to uphold their contractual obligations with the EU.
When the EU’s export control mechanism was introduced in late January, it led to an uproar from importing countries, who were apprehensive that their vaccine supplies might get affected.
Under the scheme, companies must get an approval before exporting COVID-19 shots. Their export requests could get denied if they fail to respect their supply commitments with the EU.
However, the EU has given authorisation to all requests for export since the scheme made its debut on January 30 to February 26, which amounted to 150 requests for millions of shots to 29 countries. This includes Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Canada, an EU Commission spokeswoman said.
Export requests mostly revolve around the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which is produced in Belgium. AstraZeneca and Moderna shots have also been exported from the EU.
Since January 30, more than 8 million vaccines has been shipped from the EU to Britain, a third EU source said.