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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday upped the ante in an escalating global fight over coronavirus vaccine shipments.
Speaking at a midday press conference, von der Leyen threatened to cut off vaccine exports to countries that refuse to share their own vaccines — a thinly veiled shot at the U.K. The EU may also restrict vaccine exports to countries with higher vaccination rates than Europe, she added, a threat that could affect countries like Israel and Chile.
“We want to see reciprocity and proportionality in exports, and we are ready to use whatever tool we need to deliver on that,” von der Leyen said, adding that she would discuss the proposal with EU heads of state and government. “This is about making sure that Europe gets its fair share.”
The move comes as the EU faces criticism over its vaccine rollout, which has repeatedly failed to meet supply targets. The effort faced further setbacks in recent days after scores of European countries halted their use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot amid reports of blood clots, despite assurances from medical officials including at the European Medicines Agency that the benefits of the vaccine clearly outweigh the risks.
On Wednesday, von der Leyen put other countries in the crosshairs, vowing that unless they reciprocate on the EU’s openness and start exporting vaccines to the EU, Europe will stop exporting to those countries.
“These six last weeks, 41 million doses have been exported [from the EU] to 33 countries. And this shows that Europe is trying to make international cooperation work,” she said. “But open roads run in both directions. And this is why we need to ensure that there is reciprocity and proportionality.”
If the EU doesn’t see such reciprocity, she added, “we will have to reflect on how to make exports to vaccine-producing countries dependent on their level of openness.”
Besides reciprocity, the EU should consider the principle of “proportionality” when deciding whether to allow exports, von der Leyen said: “We will reflect on whether exports to countries who have higher vaccination rates than us are still proportionate.”
Von der Leyen got some initial backing on Wednesday afternoon from European leaders.
“I support the announcements made by the president of the Commission … in particular to require reciprocity,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
Asked which countries this principle might cover, von der Leyen cited the U.K., which she said was the “No. 1” destination for EU vaccine exports, while not sending any shots back in the other direction.
“We have observed that in the last six weeks, actually 10 million doses by now have been exported to the U.K.,” she said. “We’re still waiting for doses to come from the U.K.”
That is different than the current setup with the U.S., von der Leyen noted. The U.S., she said, was neither exporting nor importing finished vaccines.
With the U.S., “there is a seamless flow back and forth of pre-products, raw materials and drug substance,” she explained. “So there reciprocity is given.”
Shortly after von der Leyen’s proclamation, the U.K. shot back, chiding her for making threats after previously claiming the EU’s export mechanism was just meant to encourage transparency.
“It remains the case that we expect the EU to stand by its commitment,” said a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“We’ve said before that the global recovery from COVID relies on international collaboration,” the spokesperson added. “Putting in place restrictions endangers global efforts to fight the virus.”
A Commission spokesperson said the reciprocity principle would apply for all types of vaccines, meaning the EU could cut off BioNTech/Pfizer vaccines to the U.K. unless Britain agrees to export AstraZeneca vaccines to the EU.
Asked whether the proportionality principle could also apply to other countries, the spokesperson said it “could also apply to countries that are not producing their own vaccines” but have higher vaccination rates than the EU.
In addition to Israel and Chile, the U.S., the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Serbia, Qatar, Turkey and Morocco all have higher vaccination rates than the EU.
Rym Momtaz and Cristina Gallardo contributed reporting.
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