The European Union Threatens To Stop Exporting The AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine

Ursula von der Leyen marah kepada AstraZeneca (Yahoo Finance)

JAKARTA - The European Union is at odds with the maker of the coronavirus vaccine, AstraZeneca. Not long ago, EU leaders posed a threat to the vaccine producer.

Ursula von der Leyen, the top leader of the European Union, threatened to stop the export of vaccines from AstraZeneca. The threat was made because the vaccine maker did not send the vaccine as agreed.

“That's the message for AstraZeneca. You fulfill your contract with the EU first before you start exporting to other countries", said Ursula as quoted by CNBC International, Sunday, March 21.

The anger of the EU's supreme leader was caused because his party was trying hard to carry out vaccinations in all European countries. Also, several European countries are being hit by the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. They also impose activity restrictions for all their citizens.

Ursula said that AstraZeneca only provided 30 percent of the vaccine from a total of 90 million coronavirus vaccines that had been previously promised for the first phase of this year. The European Union has also sent a letter of protest to vaccine producer AstraZeneca.

However, AstraZeneca issued a defense saying that it was constrained by the production of vaccines made in factories located in the European Union. EU officials are increasingly outraged that AstraZeneca is meeting the UK's demand for vaccines completely and faster.

"I can't explain to EU citizens why (AstraZeneca) exports millions of doses to countries that produce the vaccines themselves and don't send us anything", said Ursula von der Leyen.

She also regretted that last February the vaccine manufacturer had sent 41 million doses of vaccine to other countries in advance.