The European Union has exported more vaccine doses than have been administered to citizens within the bloc, according to new figures, with the lion’s share going to the UK.
The bloc has received 88 million doses, of which 62 million have so far been given out, new figures released by the European Commission (EC) showed, while it has exported 77 million doses across the world, including to North and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
However, the largest portion of 21 million doses went to shore up the UK’s vaccination campaign, according to an EU official, a figure that would make up the bulk of the roughly 30 million doses so far given out in Britain.
The figures were released as the bloc prepares to tighten export controls on vaccines to allow member states or the EC refuse export permits for shipments that are going to countries with a higher vaccination rate than the EU or which are not exporting to the bloc in turn.
“The EU needs to ensure Europeans get a fair share of vaccines,” said commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
While doses have been exported from the EU to both the US and the UK, leaders have accused both London and Washington of imposing de facto bans on vaccine exports in the other direction.
The proposals to tighten EU export controls are contentious, with Ireland among a group of member states which have expressed concerns that it could risk retaliatory action by other countries and jeopardise complex international supply chains.
However, proponents argue that the threat of curbs should be enough to get results, particularly in strong-arming pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca into delivering orders after it drastically fell behind.
Output
EU talks on vaccines are ongoing with London, and are expected to be held weekly with Washington as the world vies over a limited but growing output of Covid-19 vaccines.
Overall, even with the drastic AstraZeneca shortfalls accounted for, the EU is due to receive enough vaccines to fully inoculate about 255 million people by the end of June or 70 per cent of the bloc’s adult population, with the doses distributed proportionally among member states.
In Ireland, where the population is younger than the European average, the quota goes further to cover roughly 78 per cent of adults by that point.
