We must call a truce in the vaccines war with Europe
Can we declare a truce in the vax war with Europe? This week France has been vaccinating up to 400,000 people a day, and Germany nearly 700,000. France is bringing on-stream two major new dedicated vaccine production centres, one to produce the Pfizer vaccine and one to make Moderna vaccines. When fully up and running next month they will churn out 1 million doses a day. France will soon be jabbing a million people a day, from a population that includes around 300,000 British expats. In recent days, France has passed the 10 million mark for vaccinations.
That’s not as good as Britain, which is the runaway winner today in the European vaccines contest. But in two or three months, as in France’s favourite fable of the tortoise and the hare, France will have caught up – as will most other EU member states, as well as countries such as Switzerland and Norway.
The last two months have seen an unseemly and unworthy war of words between superior pundits and politicians in London denouncing President Macron of France, among other European leaders, and the European Commission president and senior German politician Ursula von der Leyen, herself a qualified physician (and an anglophile) who studied at the London School of Economics.
Late in January, Handelsblatt, the German equivalent of the Financial Times, reported that German health ministry officials had problems with some data from AstraZeneca (AZ) trials. Today, we know that those doubts existed in the UK, too – which is why the vaccine supervisory committee is recommending the AZ vaccine not be given to some categories based on age.
In a foolish slip of the tongue at a press briefing for foreign journalists after the German news story swept the continent, President Macron said there were some problems with the AZ vaccine. His remarks barely made a ripple in continental media. The European Medicines Agency soon after gave its full backing to the Anglo-Swedish firm’s vaccine. The French prime minister, Jean Castex, was very publicly vaccinated with AZ on television. But still, a procession of professors appeared on TV and radio in London, denouncing Macron and even accusing him of causing unnecessary deaths. This insult was unworthy – but the pleasure of jabbing at continentals, especially at the French, seems to be in our DNA.
Britain deserves all the credit for showing how to use the NHS to mobilise for a mass delivery of vaccines. The NHS is unique in Europe as it is a state-funded, not-for-profit universal public service, free for everyone including every foreigner in Britain. It is derided by many on the right, and prominent ministers including Dominic Raab, Priti Patel, Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss have (as backbench Tory MPs) called for it to be privatised.
The pleasure of jabbing at continentals, especially at the French, seems to be in our DNA
The European model – with 16 different health ministries in the regional governments of Germany, a competing (national) health ministry and health agency in France, and the continental model of health care delivered by private insurance firms and privately owned clinics and hospitals – is utterly different from the NHS. Moreover, the EU has exported more than 70 million vaccine doses – including 20 million Pfizer doses – to Britain. My twice-jabbed left arm is a witness to that export policy, which Brussels defended, in contrast to our vax nationalism, which keeps every single dose inside Britain – even if, it is alleged, this means AZ not fulfilling its contracted obligations.
But that is the winter squabble, and now – like ammunition arriving in sufficient quantities only once a conflict is well under way – we are all getting ourselves vaxed. Britain should welcome this. In a normal year we take 102 million flights to Europe. From all over small airports in Britain, people jump on a plane to play golf, visit cultural sights, go to rock and classical music festivals, and hold stag and hen parties bathed in the warm sun and flowing wine of summertime Europe.
The sooner we are vaxed – and the sooner we all have vaccination passports agreed jointly with the European Commission for travel purposes – the better. The vax war of words with Europe has filled many a headline and newspaper page. It is time to declare a truce, get on with vaxing all Europeans (including the Brits) and let us fly again to where a warm welcome awaits.
Denis MacShane is the UK’s former Minister of State for Europe