The European Union announced on the 29th that it had established a transparency mechanism for vaccine exports through an emergency authorization process to control the export of some coronavirus vaccines produced in the EU.
European Commission President von der Leyen said that the COVID-19 epidemic has a significant impact on Europe and the world, and the protection of citizens’ health is the EU’s top priority at present, and the mechanism was established to achieve this goal.
She said that the transparency mechanism for vaccine exports is temporary, and the EU will continue to abide by the relevant commitments made to low- and middle-income countries.
According to the press release issued by the European Commission on the same day, the transparency mechanism for vaccine exports is only applicable to the export of coronavirus vaccine produced in the EU by pharmaceutical companies with early procurement contracts with the EU, which will be in effect until the end of March this year.
Vaccine exports for humanitarian assistance purposes will not be affected.
Recently, AstraZeneca and Pfizer Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. both said that they would reduce the supply of vaccines in the short term on the grounds of the need to expand production capacity, which aroused strong dissatisfaction in the European Union.
Subsequently, the European Commission proposed the establishment of a transparency mechanism for vaccine exports, requiring full transparency in vaccine trade and exports.
