EMA approves new vaccine production plants

The European Medicines Agency's (EMA) human health division has approved the construction of several new vaccine production plants in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland as the EU continues to face export issues with the UK.

The agency hopes to significantly ramp up vaccine production within the bloc owing to widespread shortages which have hampered its ability to properly tackle the spread of the virus.

Read more: EU leaders agree to ramp up the bloc's vaccine production

It is currently expected that each site will develop a different vaccine, with the site in Marburg, Germany, set to commence development of the Pfizer vaccine.

The plant specialises in the active substance but will control all aspects of vaccine manufacturing.

Another site in Leiden, Netherlands, is set to create doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been in particularly short supply due to export freezes. The EU has pushed some of the blame on the ordeal at the pharmaceutical company owing to its failures to meet supply deadlines.

A third facility based in Visp, Switzerland, has been greenlit to produce the Moderna vaccine. Production processes have been altered slightly to enable a scale-up for vaccine development, the EMA said.

The EU is currently involved in a spat over vaccine exports with the UK.

Last Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen threatened to ban the export of the vaccine until the company fulfils the delivery targets set out as part of the contract between the two parties.

The ordeal has led to shortages as the EU has been exporting vaccine doses to countries both within and outside the bloc in order to stem the tide of the pandemic.

However, some bloc officials have expressed concern over the export curbs.

On Monday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has said he is concerned about the threat that potential curbs on EU vaccine exports in light of severe shortages could have on his country's vaccination programme. 

Serbia is still relying heavily on the Chinese and Russian vaccines while working with what little imports its receives from the EU into its inoculation programme.

Read more: Serbia's Vučić condemns EU's "ugly" vaccine export curbs

The Russian-backed Sputnik vaccine is looking to ramp up production within the EU in order to meet the demand for vaccines owing to the shortfalls in the EU.

This is also due to a new wave of vaccine scepticism within the Russian populace which has prompted a slump in demand.

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