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Minister Grant Shapps stressed that fewer and fewer Britons were seizing the opportunity to get vaccinated after EU politicians questioned the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine, a clear reference to comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron and others.
Shapps’ intervention runs the risk of fueling an already heated dispute over vaccine nationalism and further poisoning the atmosphere between the European Union and its former member until they can agree on Brexit trade rules (the dispute could end in actions. legal).
The latest chapter in the increasingly tumultuous relationship between the UK and the EU opened on Monday when the British government responded with outrage to comments by European Council President Charles Michel, who accused London of banning the export of vaccines. against coronavirus.
Britain vehemently denied the allegations, and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab wrote a protest letter to Ch. Michel and summoned a senior EU diplomat to London for an emergency meeting on Tuesday.
In an interview broadcast Tuesday morning, Transportation Minister G. Shapps noted that I believe Capt. Michel “just made a mistake” or did not have the correct information. “Unfortunately, we have received many different statements from Europe, including misleading information about the effectiveness of some vaccines, which were eventually withdrawn but managed to harm a lot of people, their attitudes towards some vaccines, which I don’t think is really good.” Shapps told Times Radio.
“We just have to keep vaccinating people,” Shapps said. “We want everyone to be vaccinated.”
In late January, President Emmanuel Macron expressed doubts about the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the elderly, noting that it was “practically ineffective” for people 65 and older. Later, France allowed AstraZeneca to vaccinate the elderly.
In a newsletter published Tuesday, Cap. Michel said he was “shocked” by accusations by a bloc of “vaccine nationalism”. “The facts don’t lie,” he wrote. – The United Kingdom and the United States have banned the export of vaccines or their components manufactured in their territory. “
According to an informed person, D. Raab sent Ch. Michel’s response, emphasizing that the statement was “completely false”. “The UK government has not banned the export of any COVID-19 vaccine or its components,” Raab said.
Later on Tuesday Ch. Michel said on Twitter that he would “be happy if the UK’s response increased transparency and boosted exports.”
This resignation marks an increase in mutual tensions since Britain completed its withdrawal from the bloc in December.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson risks taking on the bloc’s lawyers and announces it unilaterally as of April 1. it does not intend to require export documents for food transported to Northern Ireland via the Irish Sea, as previously agreed.
European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič told EU ambassadors in Brussels on Tuesday the details of the follow-up. The measures could include sanctions in the UK, including trade tariffs, an EU official said.
Vaccines have become the cornerstone of the relationship, as the EU’s belated vaccination program is one of the last to keep pace with the British. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, around a third of the UK population have already received a dose, compared to 6%. IS.
In January, the EU threatened to control vaccine flows to Northern Ireland, and thus the UK, using the urgency clause of the Brexit deal. In this way, the bloc has renewed one of the most sensitive disputes of the entire divorce process: how to avoid a return to full customs control on the island of Ireland.
On Monday, Johnson described the stress as “tooth germination problems” that can be “covered” with “good will and imagination.”
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