The European Union exported more than 8 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to the United Kingdom during the month of February, according to export declaration figures that reveal the bloc has been a major source of the world's supply even as its vaccination campaigns were hampered by delivery problems.
Britain's speedier vaccination campaign was helped by receiving doses made in continental factories since it kicked off in December, including mRNA jabs and AstraZeneca vaccines made in the Netherlands and Germany that made up the bulk of its initial rollout. Meanwhile the UK is not exporting vaccines, as it has reserved supplies made in local factories for its own rollout.
The United States, which is a major manufacturer, has banned exports of vaccines, including to its neighbours Canada and Mexico, leaving the EU pressed to deliver doses around the world. The US itself received 650,000 doses from the EU in February, the figures show.
Of the 25 million doses of vaccines exported from the EU to 31 countries in the month of February, Britain took the lion's share at more than 8 million, followed by 3 million that went to Canada, 2.5 million to Mexico, and 600,000 to Australia.
British prime minister Boris Johnson declined to share doses with Ireland, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said this week, as "his first priority is to vaccinate his people". AstraZeneca has said that its contract privileges deliveries to the UK above agreements made with other customers, something the EU contests.
Media leaks
The figures were contained in internal documents from the European Commission, which were leaked to media amid divisions among officials over whether the information should be made public. Some view the exports as showing the bloc in a good light, but there are concerns it could increase political pressure on the EU's vaccination effort at a time of widespread popular impatience at the speed of national rollouts.
The revelation intensified calls for the bloc to impose an outright export ban on Covid-19 vaccines, though as pharmaceutical supply chains are highly integrated there are also concerns such a move could backfire by triggering retaliatory restrictions on components that come from elsewhere.
Currently, exports to wealthy countries without close ties with the EU must be declared and can be refused by national governments, though this was only used for the first time last week on a shipment from Italy destined for Australia.
Globally, vaccine deliveries are highly lopsided: just 10 countries have administered 75 per cent of the world's supply, United Nations secretary general António Guterres said last month, while dozens of countries had not received any doses.
Johnson & Johnson
The US export ban is a factor in concerns over supplies of Johnson & Johnson vaccines to the EU. The administration of President Joe Biden announced plans for extra orders and sped up the national timetable for vaccination just as the company warned it was "under stress" to meet its goal of delivering 55 million doses to the EU by the end of June.
A European Commission spokesman said the executive was in talks with Washington on vaccine “co-operation”, including how to ease bottlenecks in vaccine components.
This week, president of the European Council Charles Michel wrote a blog in which he said he was "shocked" to hear accusations of vaccine nationalism against the EU at a time when the UK and US are not exporting vaccines.
"Most of the doses with which Israel embarked on its mass vaccination programme were sent from Belgium, " he wrote, adding that the UK and US "have imposed an outright ban" on vaccine exports. This is incorrect in Britain's case, as while it is not exporting approved vaccines, it does not have a formal ban.
The claim sparked a furious war of words between Brussels and London. The British government summoned the EU ambassador to account for the remarks.
The EU ambassador was not available as he is currently based in Belgium (London refused to recognise his full diplomatic status, in a post-Brexit snub to the bloc).
The chargé d'affaires or chief of mission, Nicole Mannion, an Irish former Department of Foreign Affairs official, responded to the summons instead.
