Austria and Denmark Say "Vaccines Cannot Rely Solely on the EU"... COVID-19 Rift Deepens

Promotion of Joint Vaccine Cooperation with Israel Separate from the EU
Eastern European Countries Also Independently Introduce Russian Vaccines
EU Criticized for Vaccine Procurement and Distribution Delays... "Can't Trust the EU"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Austria and Denmark have publicly criticized the European Union (EU) for its failure to secure and distribute vaccines, and announced plans to cooperate with Israel independently to secure COVID-19 vaccines, bringing the EU's internal conflicts over vaccines to the surface. As Western and Eastern European countries, which have long-standing disputes over EU contributions, face intensified conflicts over the COVID-19 vaccine issue, concerns are rising that the EU's fractures may deepen.

According to foreign media including the AP on the 2nd (local time), Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz stated in a press release that he and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will visit Israel on the 4th to discuss cooperation on vaccine research and production. Although EU member states are supposed to jointly handle vaccine approval and distribution through the European Medicines Agency (EMA), they declared their intention to secure vaccines independently from the EU.

Chancellor Kurz criticized, "While it is fundamentally correct for the entire EU to proceed with vaccinations jointly, the EMA approved vaccine use too late, and the European Commission failed to receive contracted vaccine supplies from pharmaceutical companies on time." He emphasized, "We must prepare for other variant viruses, but we cannot rely on the EU for the production of second-generation vaccines targeting these variants."

As Chancellor Kurz pointed out, vaccine distribution within the EU has not been properly carried out. The European Commission previously announced contracts for 2.3 billion doses of vaccines, far exceeding the EU member states' combined population of 450 million across 27 countries, but supply remains insufficient. The rate of at least one dose administered relative to the total EU population is about 7.4%, far behind Israel (93.5%), the United Kingdom (30.1%), and the United States (22%).

Since the 2008 financial crisis, Eastern European countries, which have long-standing disputes with Western European countries over EU contributions, have grown increasingly distrustful of the EU. Hungary independently proceeded with vaccinations using Russia's Sputnik V and China's Sinopharm vaccines without EMA approval, followed by Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia pushing for the introduction of Russian vaccines, deepening the EU's fractures.