EU THREAT OVER OUR 2ND JABS MACRON: We weren’t bold enough on jabs JUNCKER: War over exports was ‘stupid’
Bloc says Britain now relies on fresh vaccines from Continent – giving Brussels ‘leverage’ over supplies
THE European Union could use its vaccine factories as ‘leverage’ against Britain due to our need for second doses, sources warned last night.
News of the threat followed a fiery summit in Brussels yesterday on the EU’s vaccination crisis, at which several nations refused to back a hardline threat to block exports to the UK.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told yesterday’s virtual summit that 21million doses had been sent to the UK since the end of last year – the majority of them from Pfizer. Senior EU sources said Britain was reliant on European exports to fully vaccinate millions of people.
‘The UK is extremely dependent now on fresh deliveries of vaccines from the Continent,’ said one diplomat who had been present at the summit. ‘The whole stock was given in the first shots, which allows the authorities to have a very high rate of vaccination.
‘But you don’t have reserves any more for a second shot.’
However, it appeared last night that the summit would not lead to an all-out vaccine war between the bloc and the UK. European Commission chiefs had hoped member states would support a possible ban on exports to Britain.
But countries including Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium and Sweden voiced opposition amid fears that a ban could trigger a full-scale vaccine war and damage the bloc’s international reputation.
Draft conclusions for the summit made no reference to the new powers announced by Brussels on Wednesday, which would allow the Commission to ban exports to countries, such as Britain, that have higher vaccination rates.
The bland conclusions simply stressed ‘the importance of transparency as well as of the use of export authorisations’.
Speaking after the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: ‘ We are on the one hand inclined to respect global supply chains and want to fight protectionism, but of course we also want to protect our own people because we know this is the way out of the crisis.
‘In relation to Britain, we want a win-win situation, we want to act sensibly politically.’
Her words echoed an EU statement made with the UK on Wednesday in which the two sides pledged to work for a ‘win-win’ solution.
At the summit yesterday, lLeaders argued publicly about the EU’s strug
‘I don’t want blockades’
gling vaccine procurement programme. Mrs Merkel defended the joint initiative, saying that a race for vaccines by member states could have meant the end of the EU.
But Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz complained that some member states were being short- changed, adding: ‘The word solidarity is always being called upon.
‘When member states have a lot less vaccines available than others, then I think this is a big issue for Europe.’
Former European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker savaged the stance taken by his successor Ursula von der Leyen, and condemned bogus criticisms made by European politicians about the AstraZeneca jab.
European Parliament president David Sassoli appealed for unity, saying: ‘There is no sense in us turning on each other, just as there is no sense in thinking that others are doing much better.’
In the UK, ministers were tightlipped over peace talks with the bloc that centre on an AstraZeneca plant in the Netherlands, and could lead to both sides sharing its output.
But a Whitehall source warned that relations would be put in the deep freeze if the EU blocked a single shipment to Britain, adding: ‘When even Jean-Claude Juncker is telling the
EU they’ve got it wrong you know things are bad.’ Boris Johnson said yesterday: ‘I don’t want blockades of vaccines or medicines.’
The EU’s new powers come into force today, but a majority of members can vote to change or weaken them in two weeks. A senior diplomat said many members were ‘tired’ of Mrs von der Leyen’s attempts to grab UK doses, branding it ‘a fake war’.
Meanwhile, the Indian government has imposed a blanket ban on jab exports to priotise local supply. 19
EUROPEAN heavy-hitters have made extraordinary revelations over the bloc’s shambolic vaccination programme.
French president Emmanuel Macron admitted that the EU’s jab rollout ‘lacked ambition’.
And the former European Commission president Jean- Claude Juncker has criticised the ‘stupid’ vaccine war with Britain.
In a rare sign of humility, Mr Macron told Greek television that Brussels ‘didn’t shoot for the stars’ when setting up its jabs scheme.
‘Everybody, all the experts, said, “Never in the history of mankind was a vaccine developed in less than a year”,’ he said in an interview broadcast late on Wednesday.
‘We were wrong to lack ambition, to lack the madness I would say, to say, “It’s possible, let’s do it”.’
Mr Macron has been criticised at home for a faltering rollout which has been slowed by bureaucracy and public mistrust of vaccines.
France, which often claims to have a superior healthcare system to the NHS, has trailed Britain in the coronavirus vaccination race.
French officials have handed out 12.9 doses for every 100 people, while Britain has jabbed 45.2.
One of the reasons for its poor rollout is that the French government placed its bets on Lyon-based drugmaker Sanofi, who has said its vaccine will not be ready until next
‘We didn’t shoot for the stars’
year. ‘We didn’t think it would happen that quickly,’ Mr Macron admitted. ‘ We should have gone faster, stronger,’ he added. ‘ We thought the vaccines would take time to take off.’
It comes as the EU tightened its oversight of coronavirus vaccine exports on Wednesday, giving it greater scope to block shipments to countries with higher inoculation rates, such as Britain, or to countries that are not sharing the doses they produce.
However, former top Eurocrat Mr Juncker hit out at Ursula von der Leyen yesterday, branding her declaration of a vaccine war on Britain as ‘ stupid’. The ex-European Commission boss laid into his successor over her proposal to grab the UK’s vaccines to bolster the bloc’s own rollout. He said that the planned export blockade would ‘create major reputational damage to the European Union’.
‘Nobody in Britain, nobody in Europe understands why we are witnessing such a stupid vaccine war,’ he told the BBC’s Hardtalk programme. The former prime minister of Luxembourg added: ‘We are not at war, and we are not enemies. We are allies.’ last week after a small
Mr Juncker also slammed number of reports of blood bogus claims made by European clotting as a possible side politicians about the effect – but EU regulators Oxford/AstraZeneca dose, have recommended its including Mr Macron who continued use. said that the jab was ‘quasiin effective’ The EU had its supply estimates for over-65s. cut by AstraZeneca,
More than a dozen European leading to a row with the firm. countries suspended This prompted desperate jabbing with AstraZeneca Eurocrats to introduce the vaccine export ban to make up for the bloc’s own shortfall. But EU leaders last night humiliated Mrs von der Leyen by refusing to fully endorse her blockade plan.
Diplomats were angry because she announced the tougher export rules on Wednesday without showing them to ambassadors first. Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden are all opposed to the ban.
While France and Germany were the biggest backers, both leaders have now made an embarrassing climbdown. German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday called for the EU to boost its own vaccine production.