Health

The EU could open up a 'Pandora's box' of vaccine nationalism if it restricts exports, professor says


The European Union could open up a “Pandora’s box” if it decides to restrict exports of coronavirus vaccines, a political analyst told CNBC last week.

Vaccination drives in the 27-member bloc have been hindered by production issues. Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca earlier this year cut its first-quarter target from 90 million doses to 30 million doses.

The shot, developed in partnership with the University of Oxford, is favored for the vaccine rollout in the European Union.

Officials have already imposed strict rules for exports. The EU will check if the receiving country has the virus under better control than Europe and whether it has limitations on vaccines or raw materials before allowing the shots to be shipped.

Some EU nations, however, have concerns about the new rules and want supply chains to remain open.

There’s enormous political pressure … to begin to experiment with a kind of vaccine nationalism.

James Crabtree

Associate professor in practice

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is “really struggling” because other rich countries are doing much better on vaccinations compared to the EU, said James Crabtree, an associate professor in practice at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

“There’s enormous political pressure … to begin to experiment with a kind of vaccine nationalism,” Crabtree told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Friday.

“This is, of course, very dangerous because the EU is normally one of the most responsible international actors,” he said.

‘Pandora’s box’

Heather Conley of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) noted that the U.K. and EU said they are working toward a “reciprocally beneficial relationship.”

Still, leaders in Europe are nervous about their political futures with some countries going to the polls in the coming year or so, said Conley, who is director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at CSIS.

“Political testiness of leaders and this hysteria about political futures will make the EU take steps that may work ultimately against their long-term interest of getting those vaccines into arms very quickly,” she told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday.

“I think the international harm that that would do to global vaccine production would be greater than the increased number of vaccines in the EU,” she said.

A doctor administers the Astrazeneca vaccine at a mass coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination drive-through clinic in Milan, Italy on March 15, 2021.

Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images



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