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EU leaders wrestle with vaccine woes

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BRUSSELS: A cameo appearance by US President Joe Biden will do little to distract from the danger of Europe’s looming third wave of coronavirus infections at Thursday’s EU video summit.


The US president will address the 27 EU leaders by videolink later in the day in a show of mending transatlantic ties after the diplomatic battles of the Donald Trump years.


But, as the EU leaders’ talks started, it was clear Biden’s intervention would be just a brief respite from the main subject: How to outpace the resurgent pandemic when vaccine deliveries to the bloc have come up short, and jab campaigns are getting off the ground slowly?


Host Charles Michel, President of the European Council, had hoped to hold a face-to-face summit but was forced to accept a stripped-down video conference because of travel curbs.


A key summit topic is the European anger over UK-based pharma giant AstraZeneca failing to meet vaccine delivery promises while ensuring smooth supplies to former EU member Britain.


EU countries are also squabbling amongst themselves over how to share vaccines, and not all are happy with a beefed-up European Commission move that could block some vaccine shipments to countries like Britain which produce jabs but don’t export them.


Draft conclusions seen by AFP support the EU export authorisation scheme while urging Europe to step up vaccine production.


“We underline the importance of transparency as well as of the use of export authorisations,” the draft says.


“We reaffirm that companies must ensure predictability of their vaccine production and respect contractual delivery deadlines.”


French President Emmanuel Macron admitted on the eve of the summit that Europe had lacked ambition while the United States, in particular, forged ahead with its inoculation drive.


“We weren’t quick enough, strong enough on this,” he told Greece’s ERT television. “It’s quite true and we thought that the vaccine would take time to take off.”


Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel defended Europe’s pooled-purchasing strategy, telling German lawmakers: “I wouldn’t like to imagine what would happen if some member states had vaccines and others not. That would shake the internal market to its core.”


A European official described the EU export authorisation mechanism as “a loaded gun under the table”. It is widely seen as a means to pressure AstraZeneca to boost deliveries.


But Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands are among countries wary of any move to block exports from vaccine producers such as Pfizer/BioNTech, which supply both the EU and UK.


If global vaccine supply chains are disrupted, many countries could lose out, as both British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen accept.


Their administrations issued a joint statement saying: “We are all facing the same pandemic and the third wave makes cooperation between the EU and UK even more important.”


They are in discussions about how “to create a win-win situation and expand vaccine supply for all our citizens” but have yet to come to agreement on how to share AstraZeneca doses.


— AFP


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