European Commission threatens to restrict vaccine exports

European Commission threatens to restrict vaccine exports
# 17 March 2021 18:10 (UTC +04:00)

The head of the European Commission has threatened to restrict coronavirus vaccine exports if third countries do not also allow exports in a reciprocal and proportionate way, APA reports citing BBC.

Ursula von der Leyen says this could apply to countries with higher vaccination rates than those in the EU - an apparent reference to Britain.

Von der Leyen says the UK is the number one country receiving vaccines from the EU, but no doses of the AstraZeneca jab have come the other way.

She says the EU is facing "the crisis of the century" - and all options are on the table.

"It is hard to explain to our citizens why vaccines produced in the European Union are going to other countries that are also producing vaccines, but hardly nothing is coming back to the European Union," she tells a news conference.

"I want to be clear on reciprocity - if the situation does not change we will have to reflect on how to make exports to vaccine-producing countries dependent on their level of openness," she warns.

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