EU EXTENDS COVID VACCINE EXPORT CONTROLS

Thu 30 September 2021:

The EU will extend its export control mechanism for Covid-19 vaccines for another three months, until the end the year, and then replace it with a “monitoring” scheme, the European Commission said Thursday.

The export control mechanism, introduced on January 29, means makers of Covid-19 vaccines produced in the EU need to get approval before shipping the doses outside the bloc.

It was brought in at the start of the EU’s vaccination roll-out, which was extremely sluggish initially because of a big shortfall in the amount of doses UK-Swedish company AstraZeneca had promised.

Since May, the vaccination rate in the 27-nation EU has progressed significantly, with 64 percent of its total population fully vaccinated, according to an AFP compilation of official figures.

By comparison, Britain has 66 percent of its population fully vaccinated, and the United States has 56 percent fully immunised.

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