According to the Independent newspaper, citing a letter from the head of the European Council Charles Michel, and taking into account the fact of the lack of vaccines against COVID-19, the EU could block supplies of the drug in Britain.
Earlier, AstraZeneca suspended the supply of the vaccine to the European Union, but provided the necessary amount of the drug to the UK. Representatives of the company explained this by the fact that the contract with the EU was concluded later.
According to the Independent, in response, the head of the European Council proposed to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to freeze the export of vaccines, including 40 million doses of Pfizer, which were purchased by London. According to the publication Politico, Brussels has already agreed on a procedure for blocking the export of the vaccine: the customs authorities of the European Union will prohibit the export of drugs without a corresponding permit.
While the European Union is trying to deal with a number of problems in the supply of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, Hungary became the first country in the EU to approve the use of the Russian drug for the coronavirus “Sputnik V”.
The Russian vaccine against the coronavirus “Sputnik V” was developed by the NITSEM named after Gamalei and became the world’s first registered vaccine for COVID-19. The drug is based on a well-studied adenovirus platform.