UK accuses EU of brinkmanship over vaccine export threat

LONDON (Reuters) – British foreign minister Dominic Raab accused the European Commission of brinkmanship over its threat to ban exports of COVID-19 vaccines, calling for Commission head Ursula von der Leyen to explain her comments.

The European Union on Wednesday threatened to ban exports of COVID-19 vaccines to Britain to safeguard scarce doses for its own citizens, with von der Leyen airing frustration over a lack of deliveries from AstraZeneca plants in Britain.

“I think it takes some explaining because the world’s watching… It also cuts across the direct assurances that we had from the Commission,” Raab told Reuters. “We expect those assurances and legal, contracted supply to be respected.

“Frankly, I’m surprised we’re having this conversation. It is normally what the UK and EU team up with to reject, when other countries with less democratic regimes than our own engage in that kind of brinkmanship.”

Raab said von der Leyen’s comments contradicted assurances he had been given by Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis and by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

“We were reliably informed that they weren’t aware of any plans to restrict lawfully contracted supply to the UK,” Raab said.

Britain has the fifth highest death toll from the coronavirus pandemic, but has one of the quickest vaccine rollouts among large countries, with over 25 million people given a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The government says it is on course to have given a first COVID-19 shot to half of all adults within the next few days, hitting the milestone much quicker than European counterparts.

Raab said that the European Union had previously agreed with Britain that during a pandemic, it was “wrong to curtail or interfere with lawfully contracted supply”.

“Keeping supply chains open, keeping trade and vital supplies of medical equipment and vaccines is critically important,” he said. “We’ve all been arguing for this.”

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