EU Set to Block Exports of Astra Vaccine and Ingredients to U.K.

(Bloomberg) -- The European Union will review all requests to export AstraZeneca Plc vaccines to the U.K. “very severely” and will probably reject them until the drugmaker fulfills its delivery obligations to the bloc, a senior EU official said.

Responding to comments by U.K. defense secretary Ben Wallace on Sunday that the EU must honor its vaccine contracts, the official in Brussels said it’s not the EU’s responsibility to help Astra deliver on its commitments to the U.K.

The EU has its own contracts with the company which are not currently being respected, and any vaccines and ingredients produced in European factories will for now be reserved for local deliveries, said the official, who asked not to be named because the decisions are under consideration and haven’t been made public.

The EU and the U.K. have been at loggerheads over vaccine exports since Astra informed Brussels that it would not be in a position to deliver the shots it had promised to the bloc. The row is becoming increasingly toxic, with the two sides accusing each other of export curbs and nationalism, and some fear the spat could pose a risk for the fragile post-Brexit trade relationship agreed on last December.

The EU must honor its vaccine contracts even as the sluggish rollout puts pressure on governments there, Wallace told Sky News.

“The commission knows deep down that this would be counterproductive,” he said. “They’re under tremendous political pressure at the European Commission. It would damage the EU’s relations globally if they should renege on these contracts.”

The EU official said that there are no outstanding requests for U.K. exports from Astra’s production facility in the Netherlands, but should such a request be made, it will likely be rejected. More than 10 million doses have been exported from the EU to the U.K, though officials have said that very few of these shipments were of the Astra vaccine and its ingredients.

“The Netherlands in principle allows exports to continue until told otherwise by the European Commission,” a Dutch spokesman said on Sunday. “In order to avoid a tipping point where further steps are indeed taken by the Commission in cooperation with member states, it is of paramount importance that Brussels, London and AstraZeneca reach a deal promptly on the vaccines produced by the company in facilities falling under both contracts.”

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