France is thinking about stopping the supply of anti-coronavirus vaccine outside the EU. This was stated by the country's Minister of Health Olivier Veran, reports the Daily Mail.
France could follow the example of Italy, which has blocked the supply of 250,000 doses of AstraZeneca to Australia, the official said. The Italian authorities explained this decision by the fact that the vaccine is needed primarily for the citizens of the country.
Veran believes that France can also do the same if the process of vaccination of the population in the country goes too slowly.
Italy became the first EU country to take advantage of new export laws to stop vaccine supplies. Australia said it was very disappointed with this move, which indicated despair. Australia is just preparing to open its own production of drugs, and therefore depends on the export supplies of the vaccine.
In early February, experts from the international insurance company Euler Hermes came to the conclusion that too low rates of vaccination in Europe threaten significant losses and even failure in the economy. A delay in this process is already being observed and may result in additional costs of 90 billion euros in 2021 alone.
