`We have paid the companies and hope they will deliver,` European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said at a press conference in Brussels on January 29.
`Today’s measure is being taken with the utmost urgency. Its purpose is to provide us with total transparency and a tool to ensure vaccine supply if needed.`
The EU’s vaccine export controls are expected to be in effect until the end of March and only apply to vaccines previously purchased under agreements between pharmaceutical companies and the European Commission.
The EU clashed violently with AstraZeneca this week, accusing the pharmaceutical company of breaching its contract by delaying deliveries to countries in the bloc but still maintaining distribution under a contract signed with Britain, which has decided to leave.
However, EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides affirmed that the alliance `does not defend itself` and `does not compete or compete` with any country.
This request forces AstraZeneca to provide information about whether the pharmaceutical company prioritizes delivering vaccines to Britain from one of two factories in Europe that are said to have production problems.
The EU’s decision may directly affect the export of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, a product jointly developed and produced by the German and American pharmaceutical companies.
A healthcare worker holds a vial containing a dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine.
Previously, the media revealed the content of a letter from European Council President Charles Michel, which wrote that the European Union (EU) could use `emergency measures to ensure vaccine production and supply.`
Exporting the vaccine will require a special license from the EU and they will only grant it after ensuring manufacturers deliver enough doses to countries in the union according to the contract.
At the World Economic Forum summit on January 26 in Davos, Switzerland, leaders of countries disagreed on the issue of vaccine distribution.
Covid-19 broke out in December 2019, appearing in 219 countries and territories with more than 102 million infections, 2.2 million deaths and more than 74 million recoveries.
Hannah