The European Union on Wednesday tightened its rules on coronavirus vaccine exports, giving it a clearer right to block shipments to countries with higher inoculation rates such as Britain, or which are not sharing doses they produce, Trend reports citing Reuters.
The move comes as member states struggle to contain a third wave of the epidemic and kick-start vaccine programmes slowed by a shortfall in deliveries.
It risks stoking tensions with London, which has warned Brussels against “vaccine nationalism”.
EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis said the bloc was not targeting any specific country, although the blueprint set out by the European Commission, which oversees EU trade policy, suggests Britain would be a country with which the EU would seek a reciprocal arrangement.
The new rules expand existing measures aimed at ensuring that planned exports by drugmakers do not threaten the bloc’s supply.