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Darmstadt (dpa) - The head of the Darmstadt pharmaceutical and chemical company Merck, Stefan Oschmann, warns of possible export restrictions for vaccines from the EU.
“It's a very dangerous development that I'm very worried about.
A vaccine war will harm everyone, "said the manager of the" Handelsblatt "(Monday).
The European Union has so far allowed the export of corona vaccines, although there is a shortage in the EU.
It can hardly be explained to the citizens, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen recently said and threatened further export restrictions, especially against Astrazeneca and Great Britain.
Von der Leyen had also brought new export requirements into play and also questioned exports to countries in which a higher proportion of the population is vaccinated than in the EU - that would also be the USA.
Oschmann defended the fact that the United States has millions of Astrazeneca vaccine doses in store, even though the US FDA has not yet approved it: "With a view to the expected market launch for such a product, that is quite rational."
Among other things, Merck produces disposable reactors and filters for biotech and vaccine production, mainly in the USA.
"If the EU now begins to impose export bans to the USA, the US government could easily react and paralyze a lot in the European pharmaceutical and biotech industry," fears the Merck boss.
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The Association of Researching Drug Manufacturers (vfa) also warned of export bans.
For a corona vaccine you need hundreds of components and tools, which are delivered from all over the world and exchanged in preparatory stages between different countries.
If more and more countries resort to unilateral export bans, at some point the entire logistics chain will stumble, according to the vfa.
"Neither Germany nor the EU can cope with that, although they are strong production locations."
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210322-99-924832 / 2
Communication vfa
Article in the Handelsblatt