AstraZeneca produces its vaccines in its UK and EU plants but also operates production chains in other countries across the world, including the USA. The USA intends to use domestically-made doses to inoculate US citizens first, in accordance with a Presidential executive order (Dec 2020) so bans export of those. The EU is seeking to have that USA ban lifted. Early indications that that's unlikely.
Let me be clear: this is the 'word' from Mr Machel:
09/03/2021 | A WORD FROM THE [EU] PRESIDENT
Key erroneous text, with a brilliant first phrase: " the facts do not lie. The United Kingdom and the United States [of America] have imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory. But the European Union, the region with the largest vaccine production capacity in the world, has simply put in place a system for controlling the export of doses produced in the EU. Our objective: to prevent companies from which we have ordered and pre-financed doses from exporting them to other advanced countries when they have not delivered to us what was promised."
The "system for controlling the export of doses produced in the EU" was used by Italy to block the despatch of vaccines to Australia: Italy had to get the 'OK' from the EU before doing so (and France have indicated they'd do the same, under the same EU 'control' mechanism. The UK has a similar system for
controlling the export a variety of medicines. But the UK has not, as far as we know, exercised that for COVID-19 vaccines or vaccine constituents, let alone "an outright ban".
The trick with this stuff is to establish and maintain a good relationship with,
inter alii, (
) vaccine manufacturers and not an adversarial one. Adopting the latter approach is liable to generate chain suck.
