Five EU leaders warn of 'huge disparities' in vaccine distribution

Five European Union country leaders on Saturday called for high-level EU talks on the equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccine doses, saying that the current system would create "huge disparities" among member states by the summer.

The leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Latvia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic said in a letter to EU officials that the current system "would continue creating and exacerbating huge disparities among member states by this summer, whereby some would be able to reach herd immunity in a few weeks while others would lag far behind."

The letter, addressed to EU Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, called on EU officials "to hold a discussion on this important matter among leaders as soon as possible."

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Friday that vaccination doses were not being divided proportionally among EU member states, and that additional supply contracts were being agreed as the result of non-transparent negotiations in an EU steering group.

According to Kurz, the Netherlands and Denmark have access to significantly more vaccine doses per capita than countries like Bulgaria or Croatia.

The five heads of government criticized the current practice for contradicting the EU's pro-rata distribution agreement.