Concern over jab supplies after Brussels export threat

BRITAIN’S coronavirus vaccine supply was under threat last night, as Brussels warned producers they must prioritise the EU’s inoculation drive.

After AstraZeneca and Pfizer said manufacturing problems will stop them making jabs as quickly as expected, the bloc warned it could restrict exports of doses produced on the continent.

Brussels pre-ordered 300million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – mainly made in the UK – and is set to grant it regulatory approval on Friday. It was expecting the first 80million doses by March and reacted angrily when the firm said it could only manage 31million.

Meanwhile, Pfizer’s plant in Belgium is scheduled to give 3.5million doses to the UK over three weeks – crucial to helping Boris Johnson meet his target of vaccinating 15million people by February 15.

And Stella Kyriakides, European commissioner for health, yesterday warned: ‘In future, companies producing vaccines in the EU will have to provide early notification whenever they want to export vaccines to third countries. We want our contract to be fully fulfilled.’

Ursula von der Leyen (pictured), the European Commission president, then said: ‘Europe invested billions to develop vaccines. Now, the companies must deliver. Europe means business.’

AstraZeneca has promised 2million doses a week to the UK, which has vaccinated more people than the rest of Europe combined. And EU figures accused the company of sending pre-ordered stocks earmarked for Europe to the UK in December after plants here were hit by delays. ‘Where did the vaccines go AstraZeneca? We will find out,’ German MEP Manfred Weber said.

Britain’s minister for jabs Nadhim Zahawi accused Brussels of ‘vaccine nationalism’.

‘The thing to do now is work together to protect our people,’ he added. He said he was confident Pfizer would deliver the expected supplies. The UK signed a deal with AstraZeneca three months before the EU. In all it has spent £3.7billion to pre-order 357million doses of seven vaccines from various firms. The EU has spent about £2.3billion on down-payments to vaccine-makers. AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot predicted the UK will have vaccinated ‘maybe 28 or 30million people’ by March and will hit the target to administer jabs to the top four priority groups by mid-February. And Sir Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, told MPs: ‘We’ve done very well in this country to get the supply we have.’

Meanwhile, Germany faced a backlash after media reports there quoted government sources saying the AstraZeneca vaccine was just eight per cent effective in the over-65s. The claim was dismissed as ‘f***ing bonkers’ by Whitehall. ‘You expect it from the Russians,’ one official said. German’s health ministry later revealed the reports were based on a simple maths mix-up, explaining: ‘About eight per cent of the participants in the AstraZeneca clinical trial were aged 56 to 69. That does not allow you to deduce an efficacy of eight per cent in older people.’