EU moves toward stricter export controls for COVID vaccines

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is moving toward stricter export controls for COVID-19 vaccines to boost its flagging vaccine drive. The EU’s executive said Wednesday on the eve of a summit of the 27 leaders that it has a plan to guarantee that more vaccines produced in the bloc are available for its own citizens before they can be exported to other nations. EU nations have been stung by the fact that U.K. has received some 10 million doses from EU plants while they say nothing came back from Britain. The EU now insists on reciprocity as it sees vaccination rates in Britain racing upwards, while the bloc’s vaccination program proceeds at a crawl.