EU assures Britain over vaccine supplies

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has assured United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson "there will be no disruption of contracts that we have with any (COVID-19 vaccine) producer in the European Union" after a high-profile supply dispute.

A political storm blew up when vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca said it could not meet its contractual obligation to the 27-member EU, and the commission responded by demanding that the company divert supplies put aside for the United Kingdom, whose own contract was agreed earlier, and whose supply and use had already begun.

Tensions rose further when, less than a month after the Brexit process was completed, the commission announced plans to introduce checks at the border between EU member state the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, part of the UK, the avoidance of which was a key element of the Brexit agreement. This drew international criticism and was subsequently withdrawn.

On the vaccine issue, British International Trade Secretary Liz Truss told the BBC's The Andrew Marr Show that she was "very pleased" the EU had taken a step back and that Johnson had been told such behavior would not be repeated.

"What I want to do now is work with fellow trade ministers to keep these supplies open and to move away from the idea of vaccine nationalism and protectionism, which we know simply harms our global health efforts and harms our global economy," she said.

Message of moving on

Senior ministers have underlined the message of wanting to move on. Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said that the EU accepted it had "made a mistake", and following talks with commission executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he was "reassured the EU has no desire to block suppliers fulfilling contracts for vaccine distribution to the UK".

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said the first he knew about the border row was when the commission's border checks threat was made public, and that "there are a lot of lessons to be learned" over the incident.

As soon as he heard, he contacted von der Leyen, saying he should have been informed first, and making it clear to her the "very serious implications the move would have", information she had considered before announcing the change of heart.

In response to the vaccine row, scientists joined politicians in their condemnation of the message of vaccine nationalism that had been sent out by the commission's threat.

"Companies are working as fast as they can to protect everyone. Export restrictions do no one any good and we urge governments to avoid them," Richard Torbett, head of the UK's Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, and Nathalie Moll, head of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, wrote in The Observer newspaper.