According to chancellor Kurz: EU admits breakdowns in vaccine procurement

According to Chancellor Kurz's scolding
EU admits mishaps in vaccine procurement

There is disagreement in the EU over the distribution of corona vaccines. Following the complaint of some member states, Commission Vice-President Timmermann admits to mistakes and at the same time holds the countries themselves responsible. The FDP goes even further and attests a "German failure".

In the dispute over breakdowns in the fight against corona, the EU Commission has admitted omissions. "It is true that mistakes were made when ordering the vaccines in Brussels as well as in the member states," said EU Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans the "Tagesspiegel". He added confidently: "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."

Austria and five other EU states had previously criticized Brussels' ordering policy and demanded high-level talks in the Union about a fairer distribution of the corona vaccination doses. The current ordering system would "create and deepen huge inequalities among member states by the summer", wrote the heads of government of Austria, Bulgaria, Latvia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic to EU Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Croatia joined the advance on Saturday.

The vice-chief of the FDP parliamentary group, Michael Theurer, declared that von der Leyen, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Health Minister Jens Spahn should follow Timmerman's example and "admit their own failure under the German EU Council Presidency to procure vaccines just as clearly". That would be "at least a first step to learn from these historical mistakes for the future". Timmermans declared that a European approach was "also in the interests of the richer states" like Germany. Now it is about "that all of Europe gets vaccine".

Unjust distribution?

The EU Commission has ordered a total of at least 1.4 billion doses of the four corona vaccines approved in the EU for around 450 million EU citizens. However, delivery does not go as expected and the Commission is accused of hesitant action, strategic errors in ordering and an unfair distribution system. The Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz complained on Friday that vaccination doses were not distributed proportionally to the EU states and that there were additional supply contracts due to non-transparent negotiations in an EU steering group.

According to the EU Commission, there may be postponements if not all countries order according to their share. Unused quotas could then be shared among other Member States. According to Kurz, for example, the Netherlands and Denmark have access to significantly more vaccine per capita than countries like Bulgaria or Croatia. The six heads of government criticized the fact that this practice contradicts the EU agreement on proportional distribution. "We therefore urge you, Charles, to hold a discussion among Heads of State and Government as soon as possible," the letter said.

"We stick to agreements"

The Netherlands and Malta rejected the Viennese allegations. Malta's Health Minister Chris Fearne said the vaccines for his country were obtained through the EU mechanism. The Dutch Ministry of Health said: "We are sticking to the agreements." The Netherlands made "maximum" use of the leeway and would take over a contingent if another country waived it. The Netherlands was the last EU country to start the vaccination campaign, but is now catching up.

The uncertainty surrounding the vaccine from Astrazeneca is also contributing to bottlenecks in some countries. Today, the Irish Vaccination Commission recommended suspending vaccinations with the British-Swedish manufacturer's product until reports from Norway of four cases of severe blood clots after administration of the drug have been examined. The European Medicines Agency [EMA] stated, however, that there was no noticeable accumulation of thromboses in connection with the vaccination and that the benefits of inoculating the Astrazeneca agent were greater than the risks.

Italy is also exercising caution

In Italy, as a precaution, the administration of a certain batch of the vaccine was stopped after "serious adverse events". Previously, other countries had already withdrawn the product or a batch of Astrazeneca from the market as a precaution. It was always emphasized that a connection between complications and the drug has not been proven. Other countries continue to abuse the drug.

Another problem is Astrazeneca's ability to deliver. On Friday, the group announced that it would be able to deliver only 100 million cans to EU countries by mid-year instead of 220 million. Several German federal states are drawing conclusions from this. Thuringia stopped the appointment of vaccinations and postponed the planned start of vaccinations with general practitioners. Saxony-Anhalt is postponing the vaccinations of police officers. New vaccination dates are being stretched in Berlin.

The EPP parliamentary group leader Manfred Weber told the "Welt am Sonntag", as long as Astrazeneca did not fulfill its delivery commitments, "the EU should impose a general ban on exports of vaccine doses produced by the company in the EU". Because it creates "the impression that other countries are preferred over the EU". The EU had accused the US and UK of not exporting any vaccine produced in the country.

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