Austrian Chancellor and five other prime ministers call for fairer vaccine distribution

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (pictured) today (March 16) organized a meeting with allies from Eastern Europe, including Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Czech, Slovenian, Latvian and Croatian leaders, to call for a change to the way the European Union distributes COVID-19 vaccines after complaining that it was uneven.

Showing a chart, Kurz said: "I'm not sure you can see this but if you have a look here you will see that the majority of member states has administered between 10 and 12 vaccinations per 100 inhabitants. Austria is exactly in the middle on 12th place.

"It shows very clearly that in Malta for example, 27 vaccinations were administered and five in other countries. This means that we are in a situation where some member states will have vaccinated their population by the beginning or middle of May while for others, it will take six, eight or ten weeks longer. We believe that's a problem."

These leaders claim that the distribution was not happening in line with national populations on a pro-rata basis as had been agreed. However, the European Commission issued a press release, following comments by Kurz last Friday (12 March), suggesting allocation was a “bazaar”. The Commission wrote: “The allocation of doses of vaccines under the advance purchase agreements has followed a transparent process.

"The Commission agrees with recent statements by several member states that the most equitable solution for the allocation of doses of vaccines is on the basis of a pro-rata division based on the population of each member state. This is the solution that the Commission proposed for all advance purchase agreements. It is a fair solution as the virus strikes equally everywhere, in all parts of the EU.”

Kurz's opponents have accused him of trying to deflect blame away from his government for the relatively slow pace of vaccinations.

The EU has a mechanism for redistributing doses left when others do not take up their full pro-rata allocation, and the Commission has said it is up to member states to decide whether they want to go back to a strictly population-based method.

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The “bazaar” that Kurz refers to has been the choice of member states who decided to depart from the Commission's proposal by adding flexibility that allows a different distribution of doses, taking into account the epidemiological situation and the vaccination needs of each country. Under this system, if a member state decides not to take up its pro-rata allocation, the doses are redistributed among the other interested member states.

The Commission also stated that it was up to member states to find an agreement if they wished to return to the pro-rata basis.

In a tweet, Kurz acknowledged that the situation was not the EU’s fault, but nevertheless called on the EU to act: “Already on 21 January, all heads of state and government agreed on a distribution according to the population key - but this is currently not being implemented. This is not the fault of the EU, but of the post-order delivery system.”

Heute haben sich die Staaten, die mit Österreich gemeinsam den Brief an @vonderleyen und @eucopresident Michel unterzeichnet haben, getroffen. Wir brauchen einen Korrekturmechanismus für die Zukunft, um die weiteren Impfdosen gerecht verteilen zu können. pic.twitter.com/nRDLUHVT1X

— Sebastian Kurz (@sebastiankurz) March 16, 2021

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