Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has been told by the EU to honour its vaccine contract with the EU before exporting doses elsewhere in the world.
Tensions between the 27 country bloc and the Anglo-Swedish company have been escalated further this evening follow an intervention from European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
With case rising rapidly on continental Europe and with only 12 per cent of citizens in EU countries vaccinated, the bloc is pushing to get more vaccines.
AstraZeneca has prioritised UK orders due to a contract Westminster signed with Oxford University to get priority access in return for development funding.
As a consequence the UK has raced ahead with its vaccinations, almost inoculating 45 per cent of its population, while EU countries are left to wait for more jabs.
Speaking at a press conference following a meeting of the European Council, von der Leyen called for “transparency” when asked by reporters whether the EU would bring in tougher export restrictions on AstraZeneca jabs made in factories in the bloc.
Ms von der Leyen said: “Companies have to honour their contract to the European Union before they export to other regions in the world. This is of course the case with AstraZeneca.
“I think it is clear that the company (AstraZeneca) has to catch up and honour the contract it has with the EU member states before it can engage again in exporting vaccines.”
She added: “We have worldwide supply chains that have to be intact and it is of the utmost importance that we get back to an attitude of openness.”
Von der Leyen said the EU had exported some 77 million doses to 33 countries since December, making the bloc the world's largest vaccine exporter.
However, vaccine rollouts in EU states have started much more slowly than in the UK, US and Israel.
The EU has blamed pharmaceutical companies - primarily AstraZeneca - for not delivering its promised doses.
The company has denied that it is failing to honour its contract.
The new rules set out by the European Commission, which oversees EU trade policy, expand existing measures aimed at ensuring planned exports by drugmakers do not threaten the bloc's supply.
They add 17 previously exempt countries including Israel, Norway and Switzerland to the list of countries for which exports of EU-produced vaccines require licences.
Under the proposals, vaccine-exporting countries with higher vaccination rates than the EU, such as the UK and US,
When considering whether to limit exports, the EU would consider several things, such as the state of the pandemic in the country and the vaccination rate.
Von der Lyen empthasised how many jabs had been exported from the EU during the pandemic, while calling on countries outside it to stop up.
"Overall up to date, the total number of exports from the European Union has risen to 77 million doses," she said.
"That shows that Europe is the region that exports the most vaccines worldwide and we will continue exporting also through Covax and to protect humanitarian and health workers around the world.
"The bottom line is, we invite others to match our openness."
On Thursday, an EU official told the AFP news agency that 21 million vaccines had been sent from the bloc to the UK but none had been sent the other way.
