After a row with AstraZeneca, the European Union leaders have not banned vaccine exports. The AstraZeneca vaccine has elements produced in EU states and the European Commision President said AstraZeneca must “catch up” on deliveries to the EU. At a summit on Thursday the EU gave support in principle for toughening export controls but in a post summit statement emphasized global supply chains needed to produce the vaccines.
Vaccine rollouts in the EU have been slow and the bloc has primarily blamed pharmaceutical companies. AstraZeneca denies the claims that it has not delivered the promised doses to the EU it has its’ contract with. The EU is expected to receive 30 million AstraZeneca doses by the end of March, which is less than a third of the doses the bloc was hoping for.
Read more: Coronavirus: EU stops short of vaccine export ban
