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European Commission PHOTO: Reuters
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The European Commission has defended its policy of distributing vaccines against COVID-19, after earlier today six EU countries, including Bulgaria, complained that the doses were not distributed fairly, Reuters reported.
In a joint letter to the Commission and the European Council, the leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Latvia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, which were later joined by Croatia, called for the issue to be discussed.
In response, the EC said that the doses are distributed proportionally according to the population of individual countries and taking into account epidemic data. The distribution depends on the governments of the member states, she assured in a statement, BTA reported.
The EC noted that the flexible policy agreed by the 27 allows countries that are in a more severe epidemic situation to gain access to more doses if other countries agree not to take their due numbers.
The return to the proportional distribution of vaccines depends on the Member States, stressed the European Commission and made it clear that it itself prefers this method.
The Commission has been criticized for the slow pace of vaccination in the EU, although EU governments play a major role in buying vaccines and drawing up vaccination plans, according to Reuters.
Yesterday, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz accused some countries of negotiating more vaccines behind the scenes than they would receive in proportion to their population, and this has led to an unfair distribution of vaccines among the 27.
However, according to the Austrian opposition, Kurz is trying to divert attention from the slow progress of the vaccination campaign in the country.
The letter calling for a “European solution” was sent to the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen.
The next EU summit is scheduled for March 25th and 26th.
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