Austria, Denmark agree to produce vaccines with Israel in break with EU

Reuters

March 02, 2021, 06:27 AMlatest revision March 02, 2021, 06:28 AM

 3 min read

Austria and Denmark announced Tuesday that they will form an alliance with Israel to produce second-generation vaccines against mutations of the coronavirus, reported Reuters.

Vienna and Copenhagen have become increasingly irritated at the slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the 27-nation supranational European Union bloc, causing them to break ranks with Brussels.

Delays in ordering, approving and distributing vaccines largely due to bureaucratic red tape have left EU countries trailing far behind Israel’s world-beating vaccination campaign, which has seen more than 3.3 million people receive both coronavirus shots.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said while the principle that the EU procures vaccines for member states was correct, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had been too slow to approve them and lambasted pharmaceutical companies’ supply bottlenecks.

“We must therefore prepare for further mutations and should no longer be dependent only on the EU for the production of second-generation vaccines,” the conservative chancellor said in a statement on Tuesday.

Danish Prime Minister Danish Mette Frederiksen was also critical of the EU’s vaccine programme.

“I don’t think it can stand alone, because we need to increase capacity. That is why we are now fortunate to start a partnership with Israel,” she told reporters on Monday.

When asked if Denmark and Austria wanted to take unilateral action in obtaining vaccines, Frederiksen said: “You can call it that.”

Kurz and Frederiksen are due to travel to Israel this week to see Israel’s rapid vaccine roll-out up close.

A growing number of EU countries have placed side orders for doses of vaccines from Russia and China, even though the EMA has yet to rule on whether they are both safe and effective.

Kurz said Austria and Denmark, as members of the First Mover Group, would work with Israel on vaccine production against mutations of the coronavirus and jointly research treatment options.