OREANDA-NEWS. The European Union may block the export of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine produced in Belgium to the UK in response to the disruption of the supply of the vaccine to the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca. This was reported on the night of Friday, January 29, by the British edition of The Independent, with reference to the letter of the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, which came to the editorial office.

According to this document, Brussels is looking for the possibility of applying such «urgent measures» to ensure the production and supply of vaccines for the EU population. To do this, the EU leadership is ready to use «all legal means», while continuing to try to solve the problem «through dialogue and negotiations».

According to the publication, the «vaccine wars» were provoked by AstraZenesa, on January 22, unexpectedly announcing a delay in setting up it's vaccine in the EU, but guaranteeing to keep the full settings in the UK. The company announced such actions by the fact, that the contract with EU was closed later. In the first quarter of 2021, AstraZenesa will reduce the settings in ES by 67%.

EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides demanded that AstraZeneca fulfill all it's obligations under the contract. The EU suspected that AstraZeneca supplies part of the vaccines intended for the EU to the UK and other non-EU countries. The company's management denies these charges.