The European Commission has exported more than 34 million doses of covid-19 vaccines outside the bloc, sending jabs to Mexico and Saudi Arabia even as Ireland struggles to acquire its own.
According to figures released by the European Commission this week, Brussels has authorised more than 249 vaccine export requests to 31 countries outside the EU27 over the past six weeks, adding up to over 34 million total doses.
9.1 million of these vaccines went to the UK. Other recipients include:
“The EU exports very significant volumes of covid-19 vaccines, true to our commitment to global solidarity,” said EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides.
The news comes as AstraZeneca is expected to deliver just half of the 80 million doses it promised to deliver to the EU in the first 3 months of the year, and it has already announced that it will miss its target for the second quarter as well.
There is a precedent for EU countries blocking vaccine exports – however, so far only Italy has availed of it, blocking a shipment of 250,000 doses set for Australia.
This is quite the read. World Health Organization criticizes the European Union for pushing vaccine nationalism … https://t.co/u0IgzedpT1
— Matt Goodwin (@GoodwinMJ) January 30, 2021
The Italian government has blocked the export of an Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine shipment to Australia.https://t.co/V6tCCydJlJ
— BBC News India (@BBCIndia) March 5, 2021
Less than 10% of the EU’s 450 million population have received a vaccine dose, compared to 35% in the UK and nearly 29% in the US.
In Ireland this figure is even lower – just 3.2% of the Irish population has been fully inoculated against the virus.
Both the Taoiseach and the Táinaiste, Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar, have both stated that Ireland’s lockdown has been extended by a further two months due to delays in vaccine shipments.
Covid-19: Lockdown to extend as State’s ‘hands tied’ by vaccine shortages https://t.co/hTaDlp0nl3
— breakingnews.ie (@breakingnewsie) March 11, 2021
Ireland has missed its vaccination targets 3 weeks in a row, and this was blamed on vaccine shortages. According to the government, attempts to acquire excess doses from Europe have yielded no results.
The number of vaccines administered Monday to Saturday last week was only 79,328, meaning it is highly unlikely the Government hit its target of administering 94,000 doses last week. This will be the third week running targets have been missed.https://t.co/7odO6Vh39T
— gript (@griptmedia) March 9, 2021
Government fails to secure extra Covid-19 vaccines from EU and UK https://t.co/A4EWSBPbMh
— breakingnews.ie (@breakingnewsie) March 10, 2021
“Ireland is trying everything it can,” a government spokesperson said.
“There have been discussions with pharmaceutical firms, there’s been discussions with other countries. For instance, we were looking at the redistribution of unused vaccines within the EU. But they don’t exist because every member state needs their supplies.”
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly recently said that there was “no mountain” of vaccines available for the State to avail of, and Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that there was no “magic tree” when it came to vaccines – something which seems to be contradicted by the amount of doses being sent abroad by Brussels.
The government is now forced to look outside the EU for vaccine solutions, which will likely cause significant rollout delays.
Health Minister asks task force to examine if Ireland can procure extra vaccines alongside EU supply deal https://t.co/L7mAUC34l2
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) March 4, 2021