LONDON (CU)_The European Union has finally conceded the United Kingdom did not ban exports of vaccines, although the European Commission has refused to comment on the false claims made by Council president Charles Michel.
During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday (10 March), PM Boris Johnson rejected the claim that London had “imposed an outright ban” on the export of vaccines.
“Let me be clear,” he said, “we have not blocked the export of a single COVID-19 vaccine or vaccine component.”
When inquired about these claims, a European commission spokesman on Wednesday acknowledged there was no such ban, but refused to comment on the claims made by Michel on Tuesday.
“We know that different countries have got different measures in place – that doesn’t concern vaccines, as far as we understand, coming from the UK,” the spokesman said.
These false claims are the latest in a series of increasingly bitter spats between London and Brussels over COVID vaccines, as the United Kingdom continues to maintain Europe’s fastest vaccination programme, with about 35 per cent of its adults having received at least one dose of a vaccine to date. Meanwhile, the EU is trailing further with just 9.5 per cent.
The recent row was over claims made by the European Council president, in defence of EU’s vaccine policy, saying the bloc should not be accused of hoarding vaccines via export controls, when London maintains stronger prohibitions on exports.
“I am also shocked when I hear the accusations of ‘vaccine nationalism’ against the EU. Here again, the facts do not lie,” he wrote in his newsletter.
Although the United Kingdom insisted that the claims were false, however, Michel refused to fully back down, insisting that a ban could come in many guises.
“Different ways of imposing bans or restrictions on vaccines/medicines,” he tweeted. “Glad if the UK reaction leads to more transparency & increased exports, to EU and third countries.”
Meanwhile, PM Johnson told the House of Commons that the United Kingdom can be proud of the support the country has given to the global COVID response, including a £548 million donation to COVAX, a global initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines led by UNICEF, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organisation and several other organisations.
“I therefore wish to correct the suggestion from the European Council president that the UK has blocked vaccine exports,” he added.
He added that the pandemic has placed everyone “on the same side in the battle for global health”, adding that London opposes vaccine nationalism in all its forms.
