On May 27, the European Union gave the green light to export more than 100 million vaccine doses to Japan, despite its own bottlenecks. Around two months before the start of the Olympic Games. “We support the safe hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo as a symbol of the global community in the fight against COVID-19”said ME-Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
According to Reinhard Hönighaus, spokesman for the EU Commission in Germany, the delivery of the vaccine doses is not intended specifically for the Olympics. On the contrary, Japan has been relying on vaccines from the for months ME, mostly from Pfizer. “Pfizer has been delivering continuously since the vaccine was approved in late 2020 and there is no reason not to approve the exports as BioNTech-Pfizer is fulfilling its contracts with the EU”, explained Hönighaus.
Too little vaccine in Germany
Some doctors in Germany criticize exports because they are now struggling with bottlenecks themselves. “I am irritated that we have to use vaccines that are second choice. The vaccines that are actually first choice are not available here because they are exported.”says the Cologne general practitioner Dr. Reiner Frenken. However, the EU made a conscious decision from the outset to export vaccines outside the EU as well.
Markus Preiss, head of the ARD studio in Brussels, explains that without the possibility of worldwide export there could even be less vaccine: “Many experts say that if the EU had indicated that, it would be possible that Pfizer would not have joined BioNTech in the first place.”
Since the end of December 2020, 700 million vaccine doses have been manufactured in the European Union, half of which have been exported to more than 90 countries. Japan is at the top with 102.9 million cans to date.
Why Japan?
It is not because of the EU that Japan receives the most vaccine doses. The pharmaceutical companies receive orders and then ask for approval. The manufacturers decide where the vaccination doses go. The approval of the delivery to Japan is no exception: So far the EU has only stopped one delivery from the British-Swedish manufacturer AstraZeneca.
In Japan only a small part of the population is vaccinated. According to the EU Commission President von der Leyen, around 40 percent of the delivery can be vaccinated. Japan’s Vaccination Minister Trao Kono had already urged the EU in March to ensure stable exports to Japan. Otherwise, the friendly relationships could be harmed.
This is exactly what von der Leyen now confirmed with the approval of the vaccination doses: “It is a sign of solidarity and friendship with Japan that the European Union has so far exported more than 100 million cans to Japan. (…) And this reflects the very close ties between the European Union and Japan.”
Export justified?
It is unclear whether and how many of the vaccine doses will be there in time for the Olympic Games. The EU has no information about the delivery schedules of the pharmaceutical manufacturers, it said. What is clear, however, is that although the delivery of over 100 million vaccine doses to Japan seems incomprehensible against the backdrop of the Olympic Games, the EU’s export policy is not unjustified.
Stand: 11.06.2021, 17:49
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