Go back

EU approves AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine amid export row

Manufacturers warn of delays and ‘retaliatory measures’ now that EU countries must approve vaccine exports

The European Commission has granted an EU approval for the Covid-19 vaccine developed by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, amid the escalation of a row over the slow pace of vaccine deliveries in the bloc and the measures the Commission has taken in response.

Approval came on 29 January, shortly after it was recommended by the European Medicines Agency and on the same day that the Commission published a partially redacted copy of its pre-order contract with AstraZeneca in response to a public battle between the two over what was promised by the company. 

The contract says AstraZeneca should use its “best reasonable efforts” to manufacture 300 million doses of its vaccine for distribution in the EU, although the precise timing was redacted. It says that best reasonable efforts should be made to carry out the manufacturing in the EU and UK, which some commentators have suggested could have a bearing on whether supplies may be sent for distribution in the UK ahead of the EU.

Also that day, the Commission introduced controls on the export of Covid-19 vaccines from the EU, to prevent shots manufactured in the bloc being exported amid a shortage of supplies. The new rules require EU countries to authorise exports and notify the Commission of them, and are intended to stop exports going ahead if this would prevent companies fulfilling pre-orders for the EU like the one signed with AstraZeneca.

The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations trade body said such controls could force supply chain adjustments, cause customs delays and risk “retaliatory measures” from countries outside the EU. The controls “could jeopardise the supply of vaccines to people across Europe and around the world”, Efpia said.

Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the export controls were “temporary” and that the EU would “continue to uphold our commitments” to supply vaccines to less-developed countries.

The Commission also invoked an emergency export control clause in the Brexit agreement to prevent Covid-19 vaccines entering the UK across the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, only to swiftly reverse that decision after pushback from the British and Irish governments due to the potential to disrupt decades of peace efforts on the island. Ireland will instead monitor any vaccine exports to Northern Ireland.

Von der Leyen spoke with pharmaceutical company heads on 31 January about setting up a new EU agency for infectious disease control—the EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority. After the meeting, which included AstraZeneca’s chief executive Pascal Soriot, von der Leyen said the company had agreed to provide an extra nine million doses of its vaccine to the bloc.

The Commission is seeking feedback on the planned agency, which is modelled on the United States’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority—a body designed to steer private industry to better anticipate the needs of national health emergencies.