EU Members Allowed To Ink Deals With Vaccine Developers Unbound By Contracts With Bloc

BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2021) The member states of the European Union are allowed to individually sign deals with COVID-19 vaccine developers if they are not bound by contracts with the union as a whole, European Commission spokesman Stefan De Keermaecker said on Friday when asked about Hungary's plans to purchase the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

On Thursday, Hungary approved the use of Sputnik V and the AstraZeneca vaccine. Budapest also signed a deal in mid-January with the Chinese company Sinopharm on procurement of its vaccine. Earlier in the day, Budapest signed an agreement with Moscow to secure two million doses of Sputnik V.

Meanwhile, only vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna are approved at the EU level.

"We have talked about this already extensively ... The purpose of our vaccine strategy is to develop together with the member states a very diversified portfolio of different vaccines. In that context, you know that parallel negotiations with vaccine companies with whom we already have contracts or with whom we are negotiating contracts are not permitted. It is however possible for member states, if they wish to do so, to start negotiations or even sign contracts with vaccine developers that develop vaccines that fall out of the scope of our vaccine strategy," the spokesman said at a Q&A session.

De Keermaecker added that the COVID-19 vaccines that are not approved by the EU and are used only by a specific member country should not go beyond nation-state borders.