Nursing staff await March 14, 2021 in Turin, Italy for the COVID 19 vaccine by AstraZeneca at the CUS Turin University Sports Center.
Stefano Guidi | Getty Images News | Getty Images
LONDON – Six members of the European Union have expressed concern over the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines after AstraZeneca cut its delivery targets again.
Austria, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia wrote to the European Commission on Saturday, complaining that disproportionate deliveries were not being made among the 27 countries that make up the European Union.
“If this system were to continue, it would continue to create and exacerbate major inequalities between member states by the summer,” the heads of state wrote in a letter received by CNBC.
It was initially agreed that vaccines purchased by the EU would be distributed in proportion to the size of the population of a country. But some countries have introduced flexibility into the system so that they can choose more of a specific vaccine based on pricing and maintenance conditions.
The European Commission responded to the letter by saying that the distribution was a “transparent process” and that it was the member’s decision to introduce this flexibility.
“Under this system, if a Member State decides not to include its pro rata allocation, the doses are redistributed among the other interested member states, ” the commission said in a statement.
According to media reports, for example, Bulgaria has chosen to receive fewer Pfizer and BioNTech shots, the most expensive of the vaccines, and more of the shot developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. As a result, other EU countries were able to buy the excess vaccines against Pfizer and BioNTech.
The Bulgarian government was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC on Monday.
If we did not have to do the commission on behalf of the European Union, the competition and the issues with which you (with) this interview would have been greater would have been greater.
Paschal Donohoe
Eurogroup President
Bulgaria and the other signatories are among the EU countries with the lowest number of vaccinations received so far, according to data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
They are concerned that, without any changes, some EU countries ‘will be able to achieve a herd immunity within a few weeks while others lag far behind’, they said in their letter.
Their complaint follows news that AstraZeneca will not meet its delivery targets in the coming months. The Swedish-British pharmaceutical firm confirmed to CNBC on Monday that it would deliver 30 million doses to the EU by the end of the first quarter and another 70 million doses during the second quarter.
These numbers are lower than the block expected to receive.
“Why do they now come to know that Austria, like the 26 other member states, is a member of the management, and like the others has been informed of previous awards,” a European official, who did not want to nominated because of the sensitivity of the issue, Sunday told CNBC.
This remark suggests that the six countries were able to deal with the issue internally rather than write a letter and make it public.
Ireland’s Finance Minister Pascal Donohoe told CNBC on Monday that it would not have been bigger if the European Commission had not overseen the distribution of vaccines.
It is expected to be discussed at the next European summit, later this month.