'Stop hiding!' EU slammed for AstraZeneca scapegoating amid calls to increase jab creation
EU bosses have been criticised for hiding behind pharmaceutical companies as a furious Spanish MEP took aim at the bloc's vaccination failings.
EU vaccine campaign is a ‘disaster’ says Ernest Urtasun
Spanish MEP Ernest Urtasun argued the EU Commission had been using big drugs companies as a scapegoat for the bloc's terrible record of vaccine rollout. Speaking at the European Parliament's plenary session on Wednesday, Mr Urtasun called on the EU to get to work on increasing the production of doses and ironing out problems with distribution. He told his fellow MEPs the bloc's efforts on vaccines thus far had been a "disaster."
Mr Urtasun said: "I think we have to start off by saying the vaccination campaign in Europe is a disaster.
"We don't need to look for scapegoats.
"The problem is we are not daring to do something about the pharmaceutical companies.
"So from 160 million doses that should have arrived in the first quarter only about 60 and 70.
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"Now we have heard about these 30 million doses that have been found by accident in Italy, this can not go on.
"You want to put controls on the borders, well okay but vaccination nationalism is not going to solve the problem.
"We have to increase our own production capacity."
He added: "So please stop hiding behind the pharmaceutical companies."
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His remarks came hot on the heels of a fellow MEP who argued the bloc faces a difficult economic future.
Spanish MEP Iratxe García Pérez said: "We have asked people for many sacrifices. The population is in anguish, panic and depression.
"The return of free movement should only occur if we comply with the acceleration of vaccines.
"The dream of a rapid economic recovery is fading."
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EU figures have attacked AstraZeneca over the drug giants use of European factories to made doses destined for the UK.
Eurocrats have also hinted that a proposed export ban could be a means of targeting vaccine shipments crossing the channel.
Under the powers, vaccine manufacturers must apply for permission to send their doses of Covid vaccines abroad.
Brussels will review whether their destination has a “higher vaccination rate than the Union or where the current epidemiological situation is less serious than the Union”.