EU could block millions of Covid vaccine doses entering UK with new powers
-European commission says new mechanism will give national regulators power to refuse exports

欧盟可能以新的授权阻止数百万剂新冠疫苗进入英国
——欧盟委员会表示,新的机制将赋予各国监管机构拒绝出口的权力


(Officials conceded that a block on the export of vaccines such as that produced by Pfizer/BioNTech in Belgium for the UK was possible.)

(官员们承认,确有可能阻止辉瑞/拜恩泰科为英国生产的疫苗出口。)
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Millions of doses of coronavirus vaccine could be blocked from entering Britain from the EU within days after Brussels said it had to respond to shortages emerging in member states.

在布鲁塞尔表示它必须应对成员国出现的疫苗短缺后,数百万剂冠状病毒疫苗可能会在几天内被禁止从欧盟进入英国。
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Following reports of a lack of doses across the bloc, the European commission announced plans to give national regulators the power to reject export requests. The development raises concerns over the continued flow of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, for which the UK has a 40m-dose order, from its plant in Belgium.

在有报道称欧盟各国都缺乏疫苗剂量后,欧盟委员会宣布,计划赋予各国监管机构拒绝出口要求的权力。这一进展引发了人们对辉瑞/拜恩泰科疫苗的持续供应的担忧——英国之前对其比利时工厂下了4000万剂的订单。

“There is a possibility in certain circumstances not to allow the export to come forward,” an official said. “Indeed, that would be the final option.”

一位官员表示:“在某些情况下,有可能不允许出口。的确,这将是最后的选择。”

Should the UK become reliant on home-produced vaccines, securing herd immunity through the vaccination of 75% of the population could be delayed by nearly two months from 14 July to 1 September putting thousands of lives in danger, according to analysis by the data analytics firm Airfinity shared with the Guardian.

数据分析公司Airfinity向《卫报》透露的分析结果显示:如果英国开始依赖本国生产的疫苗,通过为75%的人口接种疫苗来获得群体免疫可能会推迟近两个月,从7月14日推迟到9月1日,这将使数千人的生命处于危险之中。

The European federation of pharmaceutical industries and associations warned that the commission plan could lead to a breakdown of global supply of vaccines. “Global supply chains are key to delivering vaccines to protect citizens … Risking retaliatory measures from other regions at this crucial moment in the fight against Covid-19 is not in anyone’s best interest,” the industry group said.

欧洲制药工业和协会联合会警告说,欧盟委员会的计划可能会导致全球疫苗供应的崩溃。该行业组织表示:“全球供应链是提供疫苗以保护公民的关键……在抗击疫情的关键时刻,冒着其他地区会采取报复措施的风险(扣留疫苗),不符合任何人的最佳利益。”

The 27 EU member states were devastated by the announcement last week by the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca that it would only be able to deliver 25% of the 100m doses expected by the end of March, citing production problems in its Belgian plant.

上周,英国-瑞典制药公司阿斯利康宣布,由于其比利时工厂的生产问题,到3月底,阿斯利康只能提供原本预计的1亿剂疫苗中的25%,欧盟27个成员国对此大为震惊。

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be authorised for use by the European Medicines Agency on Friday and advance orders of the doses were considered key to the bloc’s vaccination strategy.

牛津/阿斯利康疫苗预计将于周五获得欧洲药品管理局的批准,该疫苗的提前订单被认为是欧盟疫苗战略的关键。

The company’s assurances to the UK government that it would fulfil its order of 2m doses a day without delay further fuelled the anger felt by officials involved in the EU’s faltering programme. Just 2% of the EU adult population has received a vaccine jab, compared with 11% of those in the UK, with scant sign of the bloc’s vaccination drive gaining momentum.

该公司向英国政府保证,将毫不拖延地完成每日200万剂的订单,这进一步加剧了参与欧盟步履维艰的疫苗接种计划的官员的愤怒。欧盟只有2%的成年人接种了疫苗,相比之下,英国的这一比例为11%,并且欧盟的疫苗接种运动鲜有提速势头。

The lack of doses in the EU has already forced the Spanish government to announce a temporary pause in its rollout of the vaccine in Madrid, and to warn that Catalonia could follow.

欧盟疫苗的缺乏已经迫使西班牙政府宣布暂停在马德里接种疫苗,并警告说加泰罗尼亚可能是下一个停种地区。

The public health agency for Paris and the surrounding region, an area with a population of 12.1 million people, informed hospitals on Thursday that it would suspend its programme from 2 February. Hospitals in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France were told that the deployment of first doses there would be delayed to the first week of March.

拥有1210万人口的巴黎及其周边地区的公共卫生局周四通知医院,将从2月2日起暂停接种项目。法国北部上法大区的医院被告知,第一批疫苗的接种将推迟到3月的第一周。

Germany’s health minister, Jens Spahn, said he feared “at least another 10 tough weeks” of shortages. “Making vaccines is very complex, and there can be a need for building work to increase capacity that leads to delays,” Spahn said on NDR radio. “But then it has to impact everyone in the same way and not just the EU.”

德国卫生部长延斯·施帕恩表示,他担心“至少还要再经历10周艰难的短缺期”。施帕恩在NDR电台上说:“生产疫苗非常复杂,可能需要开展基建工作来增加产能,这可能会导致延误。但它必须以同样的方式影响所有人,而不仅仅是欧盟。”
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With national vaccine plans in tatters, and AstraZeneca refusing to divert doses made at sites in Oxford and Staffordshire to the EU, Brussels has been seeking other means of securing its supply. In a letter on Thursday, the president of the European council, Charles Michel, welcomed the commission’s plan, adding that the EU had to “explore all options and make use of all legal means and enforcement measures at our disposal under the treaties”.

由于国家疫苗计划支离破碎,而且阿斯利康拒绝将在牛津和斯塔福德郡生产的疫苗转移到欧盟,布鲁塞尔一直在寻找其他途径确保其供应。在周四的一封信中,欧洲理事会总裁查尔斯·米歇尔对欧盟委员会的计划表示欢迎,并补充称,欧盟必须“探索所有选项,并利用条约规定的一切法律手段和执行措施”。

He added: “While continuing dialogue, I believe the EU needs to take robust action to secure its supply of vaccines and demonstrate concretely that the protection of its citizens remains our absolute priority.”

他补充称:“在继续对话的同时,我相信欧盟需要采取有力行动,确保疫苗供应,并具体证明保护其公民仍然是我们的绝对优先事项。”

Officials said they hoped there would be no need for export bans but conceded that a block on the export of vaccines, such as that produced by Pfizer/BioNTech in Belgium for the UK, was possible. The British government’s decision to ban the export of certain coronavirus medicines was further cited by an EU official as reason for Brussels to protect itself from acts of protectionism around the world.

官员们表示,他们希望没有必要实施出口禁令,但也承认,确有可能会禁止疫苗出口,比如辉瑞/拜恩泰科公司在比利时为英国生产的疫苗。英国政府禁止某些冠状病毒药物出口的决定,进一步被欧盟官员列为布鲁塞尔方面保护自己免受世界各地保护主义行为影响的理由。
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“In an ideal world … the whole story of vaccination would run smoothly without any problems. But unfortunately we are not in an ideal world,” the official said. “We have seen that when it comes to the shortage of vaccines, when it comes to the export of vaccines … there are obviously deficiencies.

“在一个理想的世界里……整个疫苗接种过程将顺利进行,没有任何问题。但不幸的是,我们不是在一个理想的世界,”这位官员表示。“我们看到,就疫苗短缺而言,就疫苗出口而言……显然存在缺陷。
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“That’s why, and given the circumstances with certain states around the world, even in our neighbourhood, acting in terms of restrictions of exports, even banning exports for certain products, I think we need to be upfront, and we need to react.”

“这就是为什么,鉴于世界上某些国家,甚至是我们的邻国,采取限制出口,甚至禁止某些产品出口的行动,我认为我们需要坦诚面对,我们需要做出反应。”

The full criteria for blocking exports will be published on Friday, with adoption of the export authorisation mechanism expected within days. “Time is of the essence,” an EU official said.

禁止出口的全部标准将于周五公布,预计几天内将采用出口授权机制。一位欧盟官员表示:“时间至关重要。”

Peter Liese, a German MEP in Angela Merkel’s CDU party, said: “If the only solution is to have a reduction of the delivery to the UK, and that would bring more vaccine to the EU, that is only fair.”

默克尔所在的基民盟中的德国欧洲议会议员彼得·利泽表示:“如果唯一的解决办法是减少向英国输送疫苗,并且这将给欧盟带来更多疫苗,那么这就是公平的。”
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AstraZeneca has said it is contractually obliged to fulfil its contract with the UK before diverting doses from its British plants to the EU. The Cabinet Office minister, Michael Gove, said the UK would only help the EU with doses if there were spare vials.

阿斯利康已经表示,根据合同,该公司有义务履行与英国的合同,然后再将其在英国工厂生产的药物转移到欧盟。内阁办公室大臣迈克尔·戈夫表示,英国只有在自己有备用药的情况下才会帮助欧盟。

“We will want to talk to and with our friends in Europe to see how we can help,” he said. “But the really important thing is to make sure our own vaccination programme proceeds precisely as planned.”

他表示:“我们希望与欧洲的朋友进行交流,看看我们能提供哪些帮助。但真正重要的是确保我们自己的疫苗接种计划能准确地按计划推进。”

The development came as Belgian regulators launched an investigation into AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine production site 25 miles (40km) south of Brussels, in Seneffe, at the request of the commission. Officials believe a significant number of vaccine doses made in Belgium have been transported to the UK and that this has contributed to the shortages.

根据欧盟委员会的要求,比利时监管机构对阿斯利康在布鲁塞尔以南25英里(40公里)的塞内夫的冠状病毒疫苗生产基地展开了调查。有关官员认为,大量在比利时生产的疫苗已经被运往英国,这是造成欧洲疫苗短缺的原因之一。

An EU official said: “We discussed this matter with our Belgian colleagues. We want to see whether what we’re being told is correct or not. So I would like to thank the Belgian authorities for undertaking these efforts.”

一位欧盟官员表示:“我们与比利时同事讨论了这个问题。我们想知道别人告诉我们的是对还是错。所以我要感谢比利时当局所做的这些努力。”

A spokesperson for the Belgian health ministry said the inspections at the plant were being conducted to “make sure that the delivery delay is indeed due to a production problem on the Belgian site”.

比利时卫生部一位发言人表示,正在对该工厂进行检查,以“确保交货延迟确实是由于比利时工厂的生产问题(而不是运往英国)造成的”。

The EU is investing €336m (£297m) in AstraZeneca in return for 400m doses. But not all of the money has been paid to the pharmaceutical company. EU lawyers are examining whether there has been a breach of contract.

欧盟将向阿斯利康投资3.36亿欧元(2.97亿英镑),以换取4亿剂疫苗。但并不是所有的钱都被支付给了制药公司。欧盟律师正在调查是否存在违约行为。