Another Spat Over Vaccine Rollout? UK Outstrips EU as Britain Secures 100 Mln French-Made Doses

London and Brussels are still at loggerheads over supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with the EU accusing the UK of blocking exports of the inoculation amid the bloc’s efforts to facilitate vaccination programmes.

The UK has again prevailed over the EU in securing at least 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses – this time from the French manufacturer Valneva, the Daily Mail reported on Sunday.

The ambassadors complained that the European Commission has received “no commitment from the company on delivery schedules” related to the supply of 60 million vaccine doses to the bloc.

90 year old Margaret Keenan, the first patient in the UK to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, administered by nurse May Parsons at University Hospital, Coventry, England, Tuesday Dec. 8, 2020

The remarks followed a statement by Valneva last week that it would be discussing deals “on a country by country basis” and that it was “consequently de-prioritising centralised discussions with the European Commission”.

A commission spokesperson, in turn, said that Valneva had “not, at this stage, succeeded to meet” the contractual conditions demanded by Brussels.

EU-UK Vaccine Spat

The developments come as the EU and the UK remain embroiled in a bitter row over the export of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Anglo-Swedish manufacturer. Brussels accuses London of blocking exports of the inoculation as the bloc struggles to obtain sufficient supplies to speed up its vaccination programmes.

She added that “all options are on the table” and that the EU is “in the crisis of the century”, saying she is “not ruling out anything because we have to make sure Europeans are vaccinated as soon as possible”.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded to von der Leyen’s remarks by stressing that he opposed “vaccine nationalism in all its forms”.

A number of European countries, including Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, has, meanwhile, suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine amid reports of blood clotting as a side effect of taking the jab.

The EU has so far fully vaccinated 7% of its population, as compared to Britain’s 15%, according to the latest figures from the UK Department of Health.

Sourse: sputniknews.com