The EU's decision to impose export controls on COVID-19 vaccines is highly problematic, experts said.

According to them, it could lead to a collapse of global supplies if other countries followed suit.

"There’s a real risk that the EU taking this decision is going to spark a cascade in other countries putting in place (vaccine) export bans,"" Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Centre Graduate Institute in Geneva, told CNBC on Monday.

"There’s a real risk that we’re going to see a breakdown in the movement of vaccines across borders, the same kind of breakdown we saw a year ago when countries, including the EU, blocked food and even masks and other essential medical supplies from being exported. This is disastrous at an international level."

At worst, she said, "the biggest risk is that this is going to set an example that many other countries will follow, and this will lead to a collapse in global vaccine supply."

The EU announced last week that it is introducing a so-called transparency and authorization mechanism for the COVID-19 vaccines exports. The measure was designed to ensure timely access to COVID-19 vaccines for all EU citizens and address the current opacity of vaccine exports outside the EU.

While this measure is not an export ban, it nevertheless allows member states to restrict exports of COVID-19 vaccines produced in the EU if they believe that the vaccine manufacturer has failed to comply with existing contracts with the EU.

"The EU has certainly put in place a few pressure valves to allow for exports to certain countries in the world, but there’s still a lot of countries who heavily rely on EU production and they’re going to be hurt quite badly," Moon added.