LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is confident its COVID-19 vaccination program will be safe after receiving assurances from the European Union, the Commerce Minister said on Sunday, trying to soften supplies.
Just a month after Britain ended its exit from the bloc, ties with Brussels were severely tested on Friday, when the EU’s plan to control vaccine exports included the activation of a clause. emergency in previous Brexit agreements.
The measure, which was quickly reversed, united British politicians by criticizing the EU’s threat to create a hard border that it has long said it wanted to avoid between the British province of Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. Ireland, member of the EU.
“We know that this supply is safe, we are absolutely sure that we will be able to continue offering our program. We have received assurances from the European Union that these contracts will not be terminated, “Liz Truss told Sky News.
With the dispute suggesting a persistent mistrust between the two sides over Brexit, Truss was pleased that the EU had admitted its “mistake”.
He added emphatically: “It is vital to work together, it is vital to keep borders open, to resist vaccine nationalism and to resist protectionism.”
‘HELPING OTHERS’
Truss did not rule out offering any oversupply to other nations, but only once Britain vaccinated its population.
“In fact, in the coming months we hope to be able to help other countries with the supply of vaccines, including our friends and neighbors, but also the developing world,” he told Times Radio.
The EU has lagged far behind Britain and the United States in vaccination. It announced on Friday that it would impose export controls on vaccines, widely seen as a threat to prevent shipments of doses to Britain.
But he was forced to reverse part of the announcement within hours, after Britain and Ireland complained about plans to impose emergency controls on vaccine exports on the land border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that lessons had to be learned from the row, which he believed came from a dispute between the European Commission and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
“My observation is that the terrible row, which is a bitter row between AstraZeneca and the Commission over the company’s contractual obligations regarding the supply of vaccines to European member states, played a leading role here,” he said.
“I think there was a shock all over Europe when (there was) the company’s original commitment in terms of 100 million doses, (then) it was known that it would not be realized and that caused a lot of tension.”
Report by Elizabeth Piper; Edited by Catherine Evans and Andrew Cawthorne