UK warns EU it would be ‘counterproductive’ to block AstraZeneca vaccine exports

The British Minister for Defense, Ben wallace, warned on Sunday that it would be “counterproductive” to block AstraZeneca’s exports, just as the President of the European Commission threatened yesterday if the EU does not receive its supplies first.

“The European Union knows that the rest of the world is watching the behavior of the Commission”, Wallace told the television channel SkyNews.

“If contracts and commitments are broken, it would be very damaging for a trade bloc that boasts of (respecting) the law”added.

He assured that it would be “counterproductive”. Stressing the collaborative nature of vaccine production which involves several countries around the world, the minister warned that this “This would jeopardize not only the chances of its citizens to have an appropriate vaccination program, but also those of other countries in the world, and it would damage the reputation of the EU.”

“Trying to divide or erect walls would harm the citizens of the EU and the UK”, The minister later said in an interview with the BBC.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, threatened on Saturday to block exports of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine, if the EU does not receive the promised doses first.

“We have the option to suspend planned exports. Here is our message to AstraZeneca: please respect the contract with Europe before starting to supply [dosis] to other countries “, the official said in an interview with German press group Funke.

The President of the European Commission recalled that the contract with AstraZeneca provides for the delivery of doses produced both in the EU (in factories in Belgium and the Netherlands) like in the UK.

“But we haven’t received anything from the British, although we do supply them” those made in the EU, argued Ursula von der Leyen, adding that the bloc had sent a “Official letter” lodge a complaint with the Swedish-British pharmaceutical group.

in the meantime the mass vaccination campaign that started on December 8 in the UK continues to grow stronger, with a record number of doses administered on Saturday: 844,285 in 24 hours, the government said on Sunday.

More than half of the 52.7 million adults in the UK have received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The government’s goal is to have injected a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine to all people over 50 by mid-April and to all adults by the end of July.

The UK – the European country hardest hit by the pandemic with more than 126,000 deaths – is using vaccines Pfizer / BioNTech and of AstraZeneca / Oxford.

(With information from AFP)

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