Under international humanitarian law, everyone has a right to access essential medical services and supplies, including drugs and vaccines, Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University said.
The United States in a general license issued last week authorized transactions related to the export or re-exportation of medicine and medical devices with Russia. It has also issued carve outs for energy-related payments and international organizations, among others.The EU supplied Russia with €6.5 billion of pharmaceutical products in 2020, about 8.4 per cent of the region's total exports to Russia, according to Eurostat data. It sent about 1.
Top shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk on Wednesday warned that shipments to Russia, including medical supplies, risk being damaged or spoiled due to significant delays at ports and customs. Novo Nordisk, the world's largest maker of diabetes medicines, said it would do “all we can to maintain supply in Ukraine and Russia” but it anticipates sanctions will make that more difficult. It has already had issues delivering medicine to Ukraine.