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Global Good:
Astrazeneca's vaccine donated through the Covax
Global
Initiative arrives in Uganda
Photo: Hajarah Nalwadda / imago images / Xinhua
Ursula von der Leyen
(62) is serious.
"We are ready to use all instruments," threatened the EU Commission President on Wednesday.
At the EU summit next week, she will propose to convert the export controls for vaccines that have been in place since the beginning of February into a tough export ban for certain countries.
These could be countries that have higher vaccination rates than Europe and those that, in return, do not deliver any vaccine to the EU.
Great Britain and the USA in particular should feel addressed.
Both countries are way ahead in the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus because they have secured their supplies and at least so far have not given up any of their own production.
The Biontech vaccine for the British comes from Pfizer's Belgian plant in Puurs.
The vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson in Leiden, the Netherlands and now approved on both sides of the Atlantic, will initially only be used in the USA.
According to the "New York Times", 30 million finished Astrazeneca cans are stored in Ohio, but are not allowed to be exported, although the USA has not yet approved the use of the product (the EU states use it again after a brief interruption after the Medicines regulator EMA recommended the Astrazeneca vaccine for use).
According to Brussels, since export controls began on February 1, the export of 41 million doses of corona vaccine has been approved to 33 countries, led by the UK, Canada, Mexico and Japan.
The North American neighbors are dependent on European deliveries because they cannot match the production from the USA just across the border.
Negotiating smarter - export blockade even without a ban
The governments in London and Washington immediately reject the charge of vaccination nationalism.
Exports were by no means banned, but only the contracts with the manufacturers were designed in such a way that their own supply has priority - in contrast to the EU, which paid less attention to this detail in its long negotiations, but now intervenes all the harder in trade.
First of all, an export application was refused, reports Brussels.
But this is a global first.
The Italian government vetoed a shipment of Astrazeneca from Italy to Australia.
The Australians needed the vaccine less urgently, both sides agree.
But: "We ordered and paid for it," insists Australian Prime Minister
Scott Morrison
(52).
Incidentally, they do not want to give the drug for themselves, but free of charge to the neighbors in Papua New Guinea.
The Europeans are now the most stingy vaccine nationalists who hoard vital vaccines and, in case of doubt, do not even use them.
As the export world champion for corona vaccines, they shouldn't feel like they are anyway.
This is India, despite its own precarious situation.
India delivers vaccination doses to 71 countries
In particular, the world's largest producer, the Serum Institute of India (SII), which produces the Astrazeneca product under license for developing countries, has so far delivered 59 million vaccine doses to 71 countries, most of which have been donated.
Some neighbors like Bangladesh, but also distant and comparatively rich countries like Brazil, enjoy higher vaccination rates than the Indians themselves thanks to Made in India.
The opposition in Delhi is vehemently criticizing the priorities - and they are beginning to falter.
"Dear countries and governments," said SII boss
Adar Poonawalla
(40) on Twitter of his regret.
Unfortunately, we now have to produce more for our homeland again and ask for your patience.
The EU inspectors had already visited his plant in the hope that with Indian help they could fill their own gaps.
Russia and especially China are also stepping in as free suppliers around the globe, now also for some Eastern European EU countries.
Russia is pushing the export of Sputnik V in order to polish up the tarnished image.
EU countries such as Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have also advanced and, to the delight of Moscow, have already used Sputnik vaccine, meanwhile the EU Medicines Agency (EMA) is also examining the approval of Sputnik V.
Whether Chile or Mexico - even countries that initially relied on western vaccines only get their vaccination campaigns going properly when the cargo flights arrive from China.
China rejects the accusation of using the serum to expand its sphere of influence.
One acts only according to the principle that the vaccine is a "global public good" - as required by the UN;
Even the EU grandees often used this formula in their mouths before they became afraid of supplying their own people.
Why the run on vaccine deals could prolong the pandemic
When UN Secretary General
António Guterres
(71) or
Seth Berkley
(64), head of the global public-private vaccine alliance Gavi, warn of "vaccine nationalism", export bans are not so much in focus: the big danger is in the run of the rich states, to order more and more vaccines for themselves at ever higher prices, sometimes for a multiple of their own needs.
Even if the excess cans were donated in the end - in the meantime, poor countries and the buyers who act for them like the Covax initiative would hardly stand a chance in the short-sold market.
More time will pass in which much of the world remains unvaccinated and the virus can continue to spread and mutate.
Anyone who does this will prolong the pandemic.
Europeans can also feel that they are being addressed here.
ak