---
title: "European Union Approves 23 More Exports of Covid-19 Vaccines"
description: "(Bloomberg) --The European Union said it has approved a further 23 requests to ship Covid-19 vaccines to other parts of the world under the bloc’s new export-licensing regime, bringing the total to 27."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Bloomberg"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bloomberg/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-02-11-european-union-approves-23-more-exports-of-covid-19-vaccines/"
published: "2021-02-11T11:39:55"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 430
---

# European Union Approves 23 More Exports of Covid-19 Vaccines

> (Bloomberg) --The European Union said it has approved a further 23 requests to ship Covid-19 vaccines to other parts of the world under the bloc’s new export-licensing regime, bringing the total to 27.

By Bloomberg · Published 11 February 2021, 13:39 SAST

## Content

By Jonathan Stearns

Feb 10, 2021, 4:54 PM - Updated on Feb 10, 2021, 7:52 PM
Word Count: 356

The disclosure on Wednesday by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, follows its announcement last week that it had endorsed four vaccine shipments from the bloc -- two to Canada and one each to Japan and the U.K.

So far, the EU has approved all requests to export Covid-19 vaccines under the oversight system, according to the commission. It said the latest authorizations cover shipments to 16 other countries including Australia, China, Mexico, New Zealand, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

“The commission plans to communicate regularly on the implementation of this measure,” trade spokesperson Miriam Garcia Ferrer said by phone in Brussels. The remaining 10 export destinations in the approved requests to date are: Bahrain, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Kuwait, Panama, Qatar, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

The 27-nation EU established the [export-authorization arrangement](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2021:031I:FULL&from=EN) on Jan. 30 amid political calls in the bloc to ensure adequate domestic supplies and accelerate a relatively slow pace of inoculations.

Under the system, due to last until the end of March, drug companies must notify EU national authorities in advance of the amounts and destinations of any vaccine shipments to other parts of the world.

While the requests are supposed to get approved as a matter of course and quickly, a key criterion is whether advance purchase agreements reached by the EU for vaccines are being respected. That opens the door to possible rejections.

The EU has struck accords with various companies for a total of around 2.3 billion vaccine doses. So far, the bloc has given the regulatory go-ahead to shots developed by Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc.

“We do not intend to restrict companies that are honoring their contracts with the European Union,” commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday in Brussels about the export-licensing system. “Europe is always ready to help, but we insist on our fair share.”

(Updates with other export destinations in fourth paragraph)

© 2021 Bloomberg L.P.

**Information pertaining to Covid-19, vaccines, how to control the spread of the virus and potential treatments is ever-changing. Under the South African Disaster Management Act Regulation 11(5)(c) it is prohibited to publish information through any medium with the intention to deceive people on government measures to address COVID-19. We are therefore disabling the comment section on this article in order to protect both the commenting member and ourselves from potential liability. Should you have additional information that you think we should know, please email****[letters@dailymaverick.co.za](mailto:letters@dailymaverick.co.za)**