Boris Johnson attributed the success of the coronavirus vaccine in the UK to ‘greed’, but later apologized

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, said in a virtual private meeting with Tory MPs that the the success of the vaccination program in the country is due to “capitalism” and “greed”, some comments that he then wanted to withdraw immediately.

Sources close to the Conservative leader quoted by local media on Wednesday assure that the head of government had Unfortunate statements “insistently withdrawn” shortly after making them.

The same sources specify that the words of the British Prime Minister they are not related to the current dispute between London and the European Union (EU) over the supply of vaccines against the COVID-19 disease.

According to a government source citing the public channel BBC, Johnson was referring to advantage that drives companies to develop new products.

The aforementioned remarks by the Prime Minister during the virtual meeting with the deputies of his party were initially leaked by the newspaper The sun, which quoted the textual sentence: “The reason we were successful with the vaccine is capitalism, greed, my friends.”Johnson said.

One of the participants in the online meeting pointed out, according to the BBC, that he had never seen anyone “withdraw a comment so quickly and so vehemently”.

This deputy, whose identity has not been revealed, assured that Johnson “realized he was wrong as soon as he said it and didn’t feel that way”.

The UK has vaccinated more than 28.3 million people -at least with the first dose of the preparations AstraZeneca and Pfizer-, more than half of the adult population.

This vaccination rate contrasts with that of the EU, where country vaccination programs are progressing much more slowly.

Over the past few days, Johnson has spoken to various European leaders with the aim of dissuade them from banning exports of Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccines to the UK, a decision on which these community leaders could agree on Thursday.

(With information from EFE)

KEEP READING: