Brussels blockade threat to jabs
BRITAIN’S triumphant vaccine rollout could be delayed by up to two months if the EU pushes ahead with its threats of an export ban, it is feared.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warned that ‘the world is watching’ as leaders in the bloc prepare for a crunch summit on Thursday where they will decide whether to press ahead with the ‘Europe First’ plan.
Mr Wallace said it would be ‘counterproductive’ for the EU to impose a ban as ‘the one thing we know about vaccine production and manufacturing is that it is collaborative’.
It came as an AstraZeneca source accused Europe of failing to ‘get its act together’ on the jab.
Ministers have been warned that EU action could hit UK supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine in May and June. One source suggested the fall in supply could be as much as 20 per cent, but another said the figure was likely to be lower.
With the pace of the vaccine rollout already set to dip next month because of a shortfall in supply from India, the EU threat will raise fears about the Government’s ability to hit its target of vaccinating all adults by the end of July.
An independent analysis last night suggested a total EU export ban could delay the UK’s programme by up to two months. Data analytics firm Airfinity said a total ban would pose ‘a significant risk’.
European commissioner Mairead McGuinness yesterday confirmed restrictions on exports to the UK will be ‘on the table’ at the summit.
She said EU citizens were ‘growing angry and upset at the fact that the vaccine rollout has not happened as rapidly as we had anticipated’.
Miss McGuinness told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show it was unfair that AstraZeneca was ‘supplying the UK but not the European Union’.
Mr Wallace said ministers had no choice but to take seriously the ‘alarmist language’. He warned that imposing an export ban would be a ‘ very damaging thing to happen for a trading bloc which prides itself on the rule of law’. And he urged the EU to switch to a ‘ grown up’ approach and ‘not indulge in rhetoric but to recognise the obligations that we all have, pull together, where can we maximise supply and help roll out that supply’. Whitehall sources played down the prospect that the UK would impose a tit-for-tat ban on the export of vaccine ingredients to manufacturers based in the EU, such as the lipid molecules vital to the production of the Pfizer jab that come from Yorkshire.
But they pointed out that EU countries are already sitting on millions of doses which many citizens are reluctant to take because of false scare stories spread by their own leaders.
One source accused the European Commission of threatening Britain in order to divert attention from its dismal record on procurement.
‘The more they pick a fight with Britain, the less scrutiny there is of their own actions,’ the source said. ‘They are causing long term damage to their relationship with us in order to save the political careers of a few. Reckless doesn’t cover it.’
Tory MP Michael Fabricant said: ‘I suspect even Remainers must now see the EU for what it is – overblown, incompetent, wasteful and vindictive.’ Boris
Johnson privately warned European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen against any export restriction in a phone call last week.
The Prime Minister is also trying to build an alliance of EU countries to help block the ban, which has the support of both France and Germany.
EU member states had administered 10.4 vaccine doses per 100 people as of Saturday, compared to the 42.7 jabs administered per 100 in the UK.
An AstraZeneca source last night claimed the EU had millions of jabs stockpiled and only had itself to blame for not rolling them out effectively.
The source told The Daily Telegraph: ‘The EU has not got its act together in distributing the vaccine. The EU is sitting on stockpiles of over 12million doses. We really don’t understand this threat of an export ban from Ursula von der Leyen. It sounds like political posturing.’
‘Wasteful and vindictive’