Austria breaks rank with EU to make vaccines with Denmark, Israel

Move by European Union member states seen as a rebuke to the bloc’s sluggish joint vaccine procurement programme.

Austria has broken ranks with the European Union and said it would work together with Israel and Denmark to produce second-generation vaccines against mutations of the coronavirus. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Tuesday that Austria and Denmark, as members of the First Mover Group founded by Kurz, would work with Israel on vaccine production against mutations of the coronavirus and jointly research treatment options. The announcement is a rebuke to the EU’s joint vaccine procurement programme for member states which has been criticised for being too slow to agree deals with manufacturers.