PM JABS BACK AT EU BAN
FIRMS WON’T WANT TO INVEST WHERE BLOCKADES ARE IMPOSED, SAYS BORIS
BORIS JOHNSON has hit back at EU leaders threatening ‘arbitrary blockades’ on Covid vaccines coming to Britain – warning them global businesses could stop investing there.
The threat came as they agreed drug firms could export jabs only to countries with an even slower rollout than Europe’s – and ones that supplied it in return.
It would allow the EU to override UK contracts with Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech for millions of doses made in European factories.
Pfizer threatened to cut Europe’s supplies, while the prime minister refused to rule out a ban on exports of vaccine ingredients. EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides insisted: ‘This is not seeking to punish any countries.’
But Mr Johnson said: ‘I would gently point out to anybody considering a blockade or interruption of supply chains that companies may draw conclusions about whether it is sensible to make future investments in countries where arbitrary blockades are imposed. Our priority is to continue the vaccine rollout and we will
do everything possible to ensure that happens.’ Within hours the government and European Commission issued a joint statement to keep a lid on the row.
It read: ‘We are working on specific steps in the short, medium and long term to create a win-win situation and expand vaccine supply for all citizens.’
EU leaders – struggling with a third wave of infections – are expected to pass the measures at a summit today.
But claims that its own bureaucracy and health bungles are behind growing case numbers were fuelled in Germany, where chancellor Angela Merkel performed a chaotic lockdown U-turn.
Hours after agreeing to shut food shops over Easter, she scrapped the ‘unworkable’ plan. ‘A mistake has to be called a mistake,’ she said. ‘I know this has caused additional uncertainty. I regret it deeply and ask for forgiveness.’
Tensions also rose after Italian police found 29million doses in a raid on an AstraZeneca plant near Rome amid reports they were for the UK.
The firm – which first sparked the row by cutting its delivery of 90million EU jabs this quarter to 30million – said the shipment was for developing countries and Europe itself.
But Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts said: ‘It’s a company that is not straightforward, that cannot be relied upon.’
Pfizer insisted it had met all its EU commitments – and warned free movement of vaccines was ‘absolutely critical’ to fight the global pandemic, adding: ‘We are deeply concerned by any legislation that threatens our ability to manufacture in, or export from, the EU.’
The company has sent 10million doses from its Belgian plant to the UK and is contracted for 30million more.
The jabs have helped Britain give more than half the population a jab compared with just 14 per cent in the EU.
The PM has promised all adults a first injection by the end of July.
A four-week delay of 5million doses from India could last longer as reports emerged it may suspend all vaccine exports as its own cases surge. Britain hopes to secure millions more from a new Dutch AstraZeneca plant.
Last night, ex-health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the EU was ‘idiotic’ and risked ‘destroying the possibility of a long-term partnership with its closest neighbour’. Former chief whip Mark Harper said: ‘The EU has millions of doses sat in fridges protecting nobody.’
But the PM was also accused of provoking the EU after citing ‘greed’ as the key to Britain’s jabs success. He told a private meeting of backbenchers: ‘The reason we have the vaccine rollout is because of capitalism – because of greed my friends.’
He immediately added: ‘ Actually I regret saying it – forget I said it.’
Aides claimed it was a joke aimed at chief whip Mark Spencer as he tackled a cheese and pickle sandwich.
Labour’s Angela Rayner said: ‘Greed certainly explains why Tory donors and cronies are laughing all the way to the bank while our nurses get pay cuts.’