The move by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca to deliver more vaccines to the UK has heightened tensions between London and Brussels over the distribution of the Coronavirus vaccine.

Iran PressEurope: As EU member states face the third wave of coronavirus pandemic, tensions between the UK and the European Union have risen, especially over vaccine distribution.

Since December 2020, the European Union has exported 77 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to 30 countries, of which 21 million doses to the United Kingdom; but the EU has not received a single dose of the vaccine produced in the UK during this period.

Under these circumstances, the EU has launched a mechanism to control the export of vaccines.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, stated that pharmaceutical companies that have signed a contract for the production of coronavirus vaccine with the European Union, including Astrazenka, after fulfilling all the obligations to provide the vaccine, these companies can export the vaccine to the rest of the world.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also referred to the agreement between Astrazenka and the European Union, saying that the company must fulfill its obligations before the European Union. 219