Nationalism doesn't work against a global pandemic

International collaboration is the only way to tackle the global pandemic. Countries arguing against each other for access to limited vaccines is resulting in nasty conflicts that could eventually hurt us all.

So far, nobody has come out well in this. Not the EU, not the UK, and not AstraZeneca.

The EU27 decided, democratically, to act as a bloc to source, negotiate and secure hundreds of millions of vaccines from different providers for all its citizens.

This uniform method of procurement was not a decision of the Commission. It was decided by the leaders of the 27 EU countries, with the support of the European Parliament.

One day, it may be that all the world’s countries work together in a similar way, to efficiently and equitably source vaccines for all the planet’s citizens in future global pandemics (and be sure, more are on the way).

AstraZeneca announced that it cannot honour its contract to deliver on time all the vaccines ordered by the EU, because of manufacturing problems at its plants in Europe. Fair enough.

But despite those problems, AstraZeneca is supplying 100% of the vaccines ordered by the UK.

It is not equitable to honour 100% of one order but not another.

AstraZeneca has broken their contract with the EU, because of a manufacturing problem, but the UK's order has not been affected by the same problem. That to me seems unbalanced.

It would have been fairer, and avoided conflict, if the problems of supply had been proportionally shared among all those that had placed orders for vaccines with AstraZeneca that the company had agreed to honour.

AstraZeneca argue that the UK ordered their vaccines first. But if first-come-first-served was their way of doing business, that should have been made clear at the outset and in the contract.

AstraZeneca also argue that their contract with the EU included a ‘fair’ endeavour clause.

But you can be sure that their contract with the UK contained a similar clause, meaning that delays in manufacture could have legitimately and equally affected supplies to the UK as well.

The UK may think how lucky we are to be outside the EU, meaning we have got 100% of the AstraZeneca vaccines ordered so far.

But such a nationalistic approach can and probably will backfire.

It was down to chance that the manufacturing problems occurred in EU plants, rather than UK plants.

What if it had been the other way around – and AstraZeneca said they couldn’t fulfil the UK’s order because of problems at UK manufacturing centres, but said that the EU would get 100% of their order on time, because there were no problems at their plants located in the EU?

Now, as a response to this conflict, the EU is planning to restrict exports of vaccines manufactured in the EU to third countries such as the UK.

And that will hurt us, because the Pfizer vaccine - of which we also need in large numbers - is manufactured in the EU. Next time, we may get to feel how the EU is feeling now.

The EU made a big mistake yesterday in saying they would initiate Article 16 of the Brexit deal, restricting exports of vaccines from Ireland to Northern Ireland. But they quickly admitted their error, and promptly withdrew from their action.

The EU is not perfect, and I am not starry eyed about it. But I still believe in the purpose behind the EU - European countries democratically collaborating for security, peace and the safety of its citizens.

There are currently not enough vaccines to go around. That will improve and resolve in time.

In the meantime, manufacturers and countries should agree to equitably share the shortfalls resulting from vaccine supply problems.

Yes, it will mean some rationing of vaccines that have been ordered – but the problem will not be so bad if the burden is equally shared.

The UK may think it’s won the vaccine war today, but tomorrow we could be disproportionally affected by the shortage of vaccines as countries act against us.

Collaboration is the only way forward.

• Commentary and graphic by Jon Danzig. Globe artwork by Gerd Altmann.
• Jon Danzig is a campaigning journalist and film maker who specialises in writing about health, human rights, and Europe. He is also founder of the information campaign, Reasons2Rejoin.
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