AstraZeneca did not concede to an EU demand on Tuesday to divert Covid-19 vaccine doses from the UK to Europe to make up for a shortfall in deliveries.
The request came after the UK-headquartered pharmaceutical company unexpectedly announced last week that it would cut vaccine supplies to Europe because of production issues.
Europe had planned to vaccinate up to 70 per cent of adults by August but the campaign is now in doubt.
The fresh setback added to woes brought on by Pfizer/BioNTech's decision to delay shipments for the next few weeks because of work to increase production capacity at a key Belgian plant.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday the bloc "means business" about getting its fair share of vaccines after British officials feared the EU could restrict exports of vaccines manufactured in Europe.
EU officials denied they would restrict vaccine exports but proposed a new "transparency mechanism" to ensure manufacturers met their contractual obligations to the EU.
Under the scheme, the companies would be required to notify authorities of any vaccine exports outside the EU, amid concern pharmaceutical groups might be selling the earmarked doses to higher bidders outside the bloc.
The European Commission had asked for answers from both AstraZeneca and Pfizer about the delays.
One EU official involved in the talks told Reuters the EU explicitly asked AstraZeneca whether it could divert to the bloc doses produced in Britain, at least through March.
But the company did not answer these questions, the official said.
The UK government said there would be no change to the UK's vaccination campaign because of AstraZeneca's decision to reduce deliveries to the continent.
UK Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi warned the EU against adopting "the dead end of vaccine nationalism", while Health Minister Matt Hancock said "protectionism is not the right approach in the middle of the pandemic" when asked about the EU potentially restricting exports.
The extraordinary row came as two German newspaper reports suggested the German government had concerns over the effectiveness of AstraZeneca's vaccine.
The Handelsblatt economic newspaper reported that Berlin estimated the efficacy of the drug among over-65s to be only 8 per cent.
The Bild newspaper reported that the German government did not expect the vaccine to be approved for use among the elderly.
Germany's health ministry was forced to deny that government officials had briefed the newspapers, saying there was no evidence supporting the lower efficacy claim.
It said the 8 per cent figure potentially referred to the number of people in the study between 56 and 69 years old.
AstraZeneca said the newspaper reports were "completely incorrect”.
“Reports that the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine efficacy is as low as 8 per cent in adults over 65 years are completely incorrect,” a spokesman said.
"In November, we published data in The Lancet demonstrating that older adults showed strong immune responses to the vaccine, with 100 per cent of older adults generating spike-specific antibodies after the second dose."
Gregor Waschinski, who wrote the Handelsblatt piece, cited unnamed sources within the German government as the basis for the report. He admitted on Twitter that he had not seen data supporting the 8 per cent efficacy claim.
Why are the EU and AstraZeneca in disagreement?
UK-headquartered AstraZeneca said "reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our European supply chain" now meant the number of initial doses for EU member states would be lower than planned.
Officials have not confirmed the extent of the shortfall but Reuters reported that deliveries would be reduced to 31 million – a cut of 60 per cent – in the first quarter of this year.
The EU warned it could tighten export controls on the vaccine amid the shortfall, potentially jeopardising the UK’s vaccine supply which is shipped from Europe.
EU threatens strict controls of vaccine exports
The European Commission proposed requiring drug makers to flag exports of coronavirus vaccines in advance under a new “transparency mechanism”.
Ms von der Leyen said pharmaceutical companies must deliver on their contractual agreements with the bloc.
"Europe invested billions to help develop the world's first Covid-19 vaccines," she told the World Economic Forum.
"And now, the companies must deliver. They must honour their obligations."
In a sign of concern that pharmaceutical groups might be selling the earmarked doses to higher bidders outside the bloc, the EU is making a move to require the companies to notify authorities of any exports to outside the bloc.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn backed a proposal on export limits, arguing that the continent should have its "fair share" of doses.
"I can understand that there are production problems but then it must affect everyone in the same way," he said. "This is not about Europe first but about Europe's fair share."
UK ministers fear that deliveries of vaccines could be delayed by extra paperwork and that the EU could try to stop doses being delayed to non-EU countries, The Telegraph reported.
Their fears were compounded after an EU official said the bloc would “take any action required to protect its citizens”.
UK Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi warned the EU against engaging in “vaccine nationalism” as he said Britain is confident of hitting a mid-February target to inoculate the majority of its most vulnerable citizens despite the row.
“I have every confidence we will get our deliveries as scheduled,” he told LBC Radio. “Vaccine nationalism is the wrong way to go.”
With a string of bad news delaying a return to normality, EU governments are eager to dodge the blame. Last week, a group of leaders criticised the bloc’s drugs regulator over a perceived slow approval process, while others have accused the commission of failing to secure sufficient doses early enough on behalf of member states
“We could deliver many more vaccines, we just don’t have access to them,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the World Economic Forum on Monday.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Dunki
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Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
Indian construction workers stranded in Ajman with unpaid dues
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
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Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
