European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has threatened to block vaccine exports to the UK and other countries with markedly higher rollouts of coronavirus jabs.
The EU's delivery of COVID vaccines has been slower compared with the UK rollout, where nearly 25 million adults have now had their first dose.
It has decided not to approve vaccines on an emergency basis, as the UK's regulator - the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) - has done.
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With the bloc facing a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic and less than a tenth of its population vaccinated, Ms von der Leyen said on Wednesday: "We are in the crisis of the century.
"If this situation does not change, we will have to reflect on how to make exports to vaccine-producing countries, dependent on their level of openness.
"We will reflect on whether exports to countries who have higher vaccination rates than us are still proportionate."
The 27-nation bloc has been facing an acute shortage of COVID-19 vaccines for some time.
Ms von der Leyen spoke as six EU countries complained about reduced deliveries that are hampering the bloc's troubled inoculation programme.
She said the flow of vaccines was smooth with the United States, but voiced frustration over lack of deliveries from Britain: "We are still waiting for doses to come from the UK."
The EU chief has been under pressure over the EU's handling of the bloc's vaccination rollout, with Brussels having recently engaged in a bitter row with drugmaker AstraZeneca, which helped develop the Oxford University vaccine.
The dispute, which at one point saw the EU controversially threaten to override the Brexit agreement with the UK over the Irish border, came after AstraZeneca said the initial number of doses it could supply to the EU would be lower than first thought, due to manufacturing issues.
She has previously admitted a country on its own - such as the UK - can act as a "speedboat" compared with the EU's "tanker" in the delivery of COVID-19 jabs.
However her latest comments - which suggest the EU will seek to safeguard scare vaccine doses for its own citizens - risks escalating tensions once again with the UK.
The EU's sluggish vaccine campaign also threatens to delay the bloc's proposals to create a vaccine passport that could allow people to travel more freely in time for the summer holidays.
Its "digital green pass" would provide proof a person has been vaccinated, as well as test results for those not yet inoculated and information on recovery for people who have had COVID-19.
Some southern European countries such as Spain and Greece back the move which would unlock the bloc's tourism sector which has been badly-hit by the pandemic.
But others, including France and Belgium, have expressed concern that easing travel only for vaccinated people would be unfair.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMihAFodHRwczovL25ld3Muc2t5LmNvbS9zdG9yeS9jb3ZpZC0xOS1ldS10aHJlYXRlbnMtdG8tYmxvY2stamFiLWV4cG9ydHMtdG8tdWstYW5kLW90aGVyLWNvdW50cmllcy13aXRoLWhpZ2gtdmFjY2luYXRpb24tcmF0ZXMtMTIyNDg2NzHSAYgBaHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLnNreS5jb20vc3RvcnkvYW1wL2NvdmlkLTE5LWV1LXRocmVhdGVucy10by1ibG9jay1qYWItZXhwb3J0cy10by11ay1hbmQtb3RoZXItY291bnRyaWVzLXdpdGgtaGlnaC12YWNjaW5hdGlvbi1yYXRlcy0xMjI0ODY3MQ?oc=5
2021-03-17 13:18:45Z
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