Brawling over vaccines: export bans and the EU’s bungled rollout

Since its inception, the European Commission has proved slow on the draw; 174 authorisations for millions of shots to 30 countries have been granted. Set to expire on March 31, the European Commission is proposing the extension of this measure into June. Many member states approve. France even went so far as to publicly back Italy's request. The country's Health Minister Olivier Véran summed up the mood in an interview with BFMTV channel: "Believe me, the more doses I have, the happier I am as health minister."

Germany also added its voice of approval. "In general," stated German government spokesman Steffen Seibert, "vaccine exports aren't stopped as long as the contracts with the EU are abided by." Cattily, Seibert excused the EU's regulatory restrictions by claiming that many "vaccines go from the EU to third countries, while nothing or almost is exported from the United States and Great Britain." German Health Minister Jens Spahn was more reserved, warning that such moves could cause "problems in the medium term by disrupting the supply chains for vaccines".

Australia's protests were more of minor irritation than anger. Canberra had, according to Health Minister Greg Hunt, "raised the issue with the European Commission through multiple channels, and in particular we have asked the European Commission to review this decision." Prime Minister Scott Morrison was even understanding to a point, acknowledging that Italy was seeing a death rate of 300 a day. Europe faced "an unbridled situation. That is not the situation in Australia."

Vaccine patriotism was always going to surface to dampen any optimism on the part of public health utopians. Countries and self-interest come before the noble aspirations of humanity. The Director General of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala laments that WTO members, to the extent they had "export restrictions or even prohibitions of these goods [vaccines]" were holding "back recovery."

A great danger to the EU in this ugly affair will be whether certain nation states within the family will take its efforts in combating COVID-19 seriously. As shown by Hungary's example, the bunglers in Brussels risk being ignored altogether.

As for the blocking of vaccine exports to third countries, Bernd Lange, the German MEP who chairs the European Parliament's trade committee, is gloomy and regretful. The European export mechanism risked constituting a de facto ban. "Pandora's box opened," he wrote on Twitter in response to the Italian decision. "Mistake." Imitators would follow, as could "fatal consequences on supply chains." A global conflict over the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is in the offing.