The European Commission will today extend EU powers to potentially block Covid-19 vaccine exports to Britain and other areas with much higher vaccination rates, and to cover instances of companies backloading contracted supplies, EU officials said. The regulation is aimed at making vaccine trade reciprocal and proportional so that other vaccine-making countries sell to Europe and the EU does not export much more than it imports, one EU official said. Read MoreThe regulation will be the basis for the EU's 27 governments to decide whether to block vaccine exports or not. The move, which EU officials said could hit AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, are designed to avoid even limited delivery shortfalls to a region whose inoculation programme has been beset by delays and supply issues. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain did not believe in imposing vaccine blockades.

Source: Irish Independent March 24, 2021 06:56 UTC