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Von der Leyen with her Vice Timmermans: Taking stock after the pandemic
Photo: Philipp von Ditfurth / DPA
Ursula von der Leyen's deputy sees the EU Commission complicit in the debacle over vaccine orders.
"It is true that mistakes were made when ordering the vaccines in Brussels as well as in the member states," said Vice Commissioner Frans Timmermans the "Tagesspiegel am Sonntag".
“I am ready to take stock at the end of the pandemic.
Then we can see what we did wrong and what we did right. "
In the current situation, however, it is first of all about "that all of Europe gets vaccine," said Timmermans.
He defended the joint procurement: A European approach had taken place "also in the interests of the richer states" like Germany.
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Corona vaccine: AstraZeneca reduces delivery quantities even further
Four corona vaccines have now been approved in the EU: Vaccines from Biontech and Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
The EU has ordered a total of at least 1.4 billion cans from these manufacturers - actually more than enough for around 450 million Europeans.
But because the start of the vaccination campaigns and deliveries is slow, the EU Commission has come under fire.
Among other things, their hesitant action and strategic errors when ordering are accused.
Some Member States also feel that the distribution of vaccine doses is unfair.
Austria recently accused the European Medicines Agency (EMA) of having been "too slow" in approving vaccines.
Weber for AstraZeneca export stop
In an international comparison, vaccination is much slower in the EU than, for example, in the USA, Israel or the former member state Great Britain.
More than a third of the people there have already received their first vaccination.
Just last week, AstraZeneca announced that it would be able to deliver fewer vaccine doses this year than the actually agreed vaccine doses.
Instead of the last targeted 220 million cans, only 100 million should go to the EU states by the middle of the year.
The group justified this with export restrictions, among other things, without giving details.
The EU had accused both the US and the UK of not exporting any vaccine produced in the countries.
EPP parliamentary group leader Manfred Weber therefore wants to draw conclusions and not export the vaccine produced in the EU.
"It gives the impression that other countries are preferred over the EU," Weber told "Welt am Sonntag".
As long as AstraZeneca does not fulfill its promises, "the EU should impose a general ban on exports of vaccine doses produced by the company in the EU."
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brk / dpa