European Union Threatens to Ban Export of Corona vaccines to Britain

The European Union (EU)  has threatened to ban the export of Covid-19 vaccines to Britain to keep scarce doses for the citizens of its countries, at a time when the countries of the Union are facing a third wave of the pandemic.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the epidemiological situation is getting worse, with the number of deaths due to the disease in the EU    exceeding 550 thousand, and only a tenth of its population has been vaccinated.

Der Leyen added the EU  is in the crisis of the century and it is witnessing the height of the third wave in member states.

She indicated that the vaccine doses flowed smoothly from the United States, but expressed her disappointment regarding the late arrival of shipments of the British "AstraZeneca" vaccine.

She stated that the factories of the European Union countries sent 10 million doses to Britain, a former member of the European Union.

And she continued to say if this situation does not change, the EU will have to think about making the export of the vaccine to countries producing it dependent on the level of their sincerity with us.

She stressed the European countries   will discuss whether it is still appropriate to export to countries with higher immunization rates than we do."

However, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab responded, accusing the commission of recklessness and demanding clarifications after his government received assurances that the European Union did not intend to place restrictions on the exports that had been contracted.

"We expect that those assurances and legally contracted supplies will be respected," he said.

The British government has informed the NHS that the United Kingdom (UK) will witness a severe shortage of vaccines available from March 29, due to a shortage of supplies coming into the country.

The Health Services Authority said, "The government task force specialized in distributing vaccines has informed us that there will be a significant decrease in the weekly supplies available from manufacturers starting from the week beginning on March 29, which means that the first doses will be greatly limited."