London excelled in vaccinating the largest number

A vaccine war looms between the European Union and Britain

• Despite the multiplicity of vaccines, the struggle between rich countries over the possession of the largest number and types of packages and types is getting fiercer.

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Rich countries have emptied the shelves of the world of Corona virus vaccines, leaving poor countries, with little hope of getting out of the epidemic in 2021. But new skirmishes this week pitted the rich against each other, and Britain found itself facing the European Union During the vaccine scramble, to spark a new nationalist competition, which could poison relationships and impede collective efforts to end the epidemic.

The European Union, affected by its slow progress in the field of vaccinations, threatened this week to tighten rules for shipping the Belgian-made doses to Britain.

British lawmakers, in turn, accused their European counterparts of waging a blackmail campaign that would strain relations for an entire generation.

The poorest countries, which are already at the rear of the vaccine line, face longer waiting times if intense disagreements between rich countries lead to higher prices.

The dispute in Europe bears echoes of the first dark days of the epidemic, when dozens of countries banned or restricted the export of protective equipment and medical devices.

After about a year, the spirit of protectionism worsened.

While vaccine supplies are too scarce for many poor countries to initiate vaccination, rich countries do not know how to share available doses with each other.

"Science succeeds, solidarity fails," said Robert Yates, director of the Global Health Program at the Policy Institute in London, "Chatham House." "Political leaders in the world are failing scholars and others."

The essence of the problem is the delay in production in separate factories in Belgium that produce the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine, and the one developed by AstraZeneca in cooperation with the University of Oxford.

With a new and more contagious type of coronavirus, and an increase in the number of cases in many European countries, this delay has undermined efforts to vaccinate millions of people, increasing global competition for doses.

But vaccine manufacturing, which is notoriously difficult, is only part of the problem.

Public health experts say a complete global system of drug procurement, which pits one country against another with little regard for fairness, is inadequate for the mission to end a pandemic, does not respect borders.

For the European Union, problems with vaccination campaigns have reinforced criticism of the bloc's slow and sometimes impractical bureaucracy.

Unable to speed up vaccine makers, the bloc leaders have instead resorted to threats about the export process, in a sign of the intense pressure they are facing.

The European Union lags far behind Britain and the United States, which have already purchased vaccines.

The position of the European Union is based on the concept of efficiency, especially when responsibility is distributed among different parts of the continent, as people believe that Brussels will be more efficient than national authorities, according to the author and former politician in Portugal, Bruno Massais, who explained that «you can see a feeling of despair. In the past few days ».

Speed ​​up the pace of vaccinations

Many European countries, rich and poor, hope that the arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccine will speed up the pace of vaccinations, given its low price and simple storage requirements, compared to those required by Pfizer and Moderna.

But «AstraZeneca» told the European Union, last week, that it will reduce the scheduled deliveries to 31 million doses, by the end of March, less than half the amount that the mass was expecting (80 million doses).

This news came in conjunction with an announcement from Pfizer that it would slow down vaccine deliveries, so that it could upgrade its factory in Belgium.

With the anger of member states, the European Commission responded by saying that all Corona virus vaccines, made within the bloc, require special documents, to be shipped to another place.

This puts Britain's supply of vaccines, "Pfizer-Biontech", at risk.

In contrast to the supply of the "AstraZeneca" vaccine, which is produced in British factories, its shipments of the "Pfizer-Biontech" vaccine come entirely from a factory in the Belgian "Bor".

European lawmakers justified this step, saying it would allow them to monitor "how companies distribute vaccines, and hold them accountable."

"We have not diverted any supplies from the European supply chain to countries outside the European Union," a spokesman for "AstraZeneca" said on Tuesday.

Relations between Britain and the European Union were already strained after more than four years of controversy over Brexit, which ended only weeks ago, and British lawmakers responded angrily and blamed the European bloc.

"It sounds terribly like blackmail," said David Jones, a Conservative lawmaker, saying it "shows why we were right to leave the European Union."

Analysts said that the dispute indicates widespread escalation of tensions in Britain, over vaccination, after it gave vaccines to 10% of its population, so far, compared to only 2% in the European Union.

Britain was the first country to give permission for a fully tested vaccine for the Corona virus.

"I think there are people inside the government, and among those in favor of Brexit, who are really enjoying this," said Yates - of "Chatham House". "In this case, we might witness some revenge, now, from our European neighbors who are tired of it." This matter".

• Public health experts say a complete global system of drug procurement, which pits one country against another with little concern for fairness, is inadequate for the mission to end a pandemic, does not respect borders.

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