UK will only help EU if it does not affect our vaccine timetable, says Liz Truss
Liz Truss #LizTruss
The UK could help EU nations with coronavirus vaccine supplies, the international trade secretary, Liz Truss, has said, but only if it does not affect the government’s timetable for vaccinating its own population.
As ministers sought to smooth relations with Brussels following the EU’s much-criticised and swiftly rescinded decision to impose a vaccine border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Truss sought to stress the need for international cooperation.
Speaking overnight, the vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, talked about collaborating with the EU, saying Britain had gone “out of our way” to help the bloc with vaccines supplies and “will continue to do so”.
Truss reiterated this point, but hinted that any diversion of supplies to the EU might not happen before the UK has offered vaccinations to all adults, due by the autumn. Downing Street has previously held out the possibility of this happening once the first phase of the programme is over.
Asked about Zahawi’s comments to the Sunday Telegraph, Truss told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday show: “Of course, we first need to make sure that our population is vaccinated.
“We have a target to get the most vulnerable vaccinated by late February. It’s a bit too early to say how we would deploy vaccines, but we certainly want to work with friends and neighbours, we want to work with developing countries.”
Video: EU pushes for access to AstraZeneca COVID vaccines from UK plants (Reuters)
EU pushes for access to AstraZeneca COVID vaccines from UK plants
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The timetable says the four most vulnerable groups should be vaccinated by late February, with the top nine contingents, going up to all people over 50, should receive a first dose by spring, with every adult offered vaccinations by September.
Downing Street has so far declined to rule out the idea of excess doses being sent to the EU after the first nine groups are completed. But Truss seemed to indicate any offer could instead wait until the end of the programme.
“There have been supply issues, so we need to make sure that the new drugs that are coming online are delivered, that the population is vaccinated,” she said. “But of course, as we’re developing that, we are also working with other countries about how we can help. It won’t help Britain if we become a vaccinated island and many other countries don’t have the vaccine.”
Truss said the first deadline of the vaccination programme, to offer injections to all older care home residents, and care home staff, by the end of Sunday, was “certainly on track”, promising a full update next week.
Boris Johnson had talked to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, Truss said, adding: “She has been very clear that those contractual supplies won’t be disrupted.”
Asked if she could guarantee that everyone who has had the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine will get their second dose, Ms Truss added: “We can absolutely guarantee our programme of delivery of the vaccine. We have received assurances from the EU about the supply, under contract, of all of those vaccines.”
The EU has faced a significant backlash over its announcement of potential export controls on vaccines produced within the bloc. The World Health Organization (WHO) condemned the move and the pharmaceutical industry warned that the measures would damage their vaccination efforts.
The EU’s threat to stop vaccines crossing freely from the EU to Northern Ireland set off a diplomatic crisis between Ireland, the EU and the UK, and has prompted Conservative Brexiters to demand an overhaul of the Brexit deal over Northern Ireland.
Also speaking on the Ridge show, Tony Blair said the EU’s threat to impose a vaccines border on the island of Ireland was “a very foolish thing to do”.
A key part of the Good Friday deal on peace in Northern Ireland was to maintain a free border, the former prime minister said: “That’s why what the European Commission did was unacceptable, but as you say, fortunately they withdrew it very quickly.”