UK not exempt from EU vaccine export controls

A ban, or the right to impose a ban, on the export of vaccines has been imposed by the EU in a major escalation of the global vaccine war. Under new rules pharmaceutical companies have to disclose if they are going to export any doses made in the EU to countries outside the EU. Authorities are then empowered to prevent the export of these vaccine doses if a firm hasn’t delivered all the vaccines to EU countries that it was contracted to deliver.

So, how will this affect vaccine supplies for the UK and the rest of the world?

The vaccine most likely to be affected is Pfizer’s, of which the UK has ordered 40 million compared to the EU’s 300 million. While lots of Pfizer’s production takes place in the US, it also uses a plant in Belgium to produce doses for the European market – including the UK.

The export of Pfizer vaccines to the UK has angered many EU politicians. This week German MEP Peter Liese said: “For five weeks now the BioNTech vaccine that is only produced in Europe, that has been developed with the aid of the German state and European Union money, is shipped to the United Kingdom, so people in the United Kingdom are vaccinated with a very good vaccine that is produced in Europe, supported by European money. If there is anyone thinking that European citizens would accept that we give this high-quality vaccine to the UK and would accept to be treated as second class by a UK based company (a reference to the EU’s ongoing row with AstraZeneca). I think the only consequence can be to immediately stop the export of the BioNTech vaccine and then we are in the middle of a trade war. So, the company and the UK better think twice.”

British orders of the upcoming Johnson & Johnson vaccine – of which the UK has ordered 30 million doses to the EU’s 200 million – may also be affected. While much of its production is located in the US it has also signed a contract to produce the vaccine in a plant in Angani, Italy. Similarly, Moderna might find any vaccines it produces in its planned production sites in Recipharm, France and Rovi, Spain subject to export controls – but other big production facilities in the US and Switzerland should be unaffected. However, orders for this vaccine are smaller – the UK has only ordered 17 million doses to the EU’s 80 million.

UK supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine, however, may not be significantly affected as the UK, which has ordered 100 million doses, is currently responsible for the lion’s share of production. Similarly, supplies of the  Novavax vaccine – of which the UK has ordered 60 million doses – looks relatively secure because production is likely to take place in Teeside, England.

As for the rest of the world the potential effects vary greatly from country to country. Notably exports to most of the EU’s trading partners – a laundry list of countries ranging from Iceland and Switzerland to Ukraine and Morocco – are exempt from these exports controls, though not the UK. The EU also exempts exports to 92 other low and middle income countries on the COVAX Advance Market Commitment – the World Health Organisation’s official vaccination programme. Countries on this list include India which has ordered 1 billion AstraZeneca vaccines. It is building its own vaccine production facilities.