Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jul 22, 2025

COVID-19 vaccines: UK says 'world is watching' EU on export ban threat

COVID-19 vaccines: UK says 'world is watching' EU on export ban threat

A senior UK government minister has warned the EU after the president of the European Commission threatened to block vaccine exports, saying "the world is watching".

Defence Minister Ben Wallace said it would be "counterproductive" to block AstraZeneca's exports, the day after Ursula von der Leyen said a ban was possible. The Commission -- which has responded by calling for calm -- accuses the company of failing to meet agreed delivery targets.

"The European Union will know that the rest of the world is looking at the Commission about how it conducts itself on this," Wallace told Sky News. "If contracts get broken... that is a very damaging thing to happen for a trading bloc that prides itself on the of law."

The EU and the UK have been sparring for weeks over vaccine exports. The continent faces an ongoing shortage and countries are struggling to speed up their programmes.

Meanwhile inoculations continue apace in the UK, which says it has vaccinated half the adult population. Boris Johnson has tweeted new figures showing a new daily record of 873,784 jabs on Saturday.

Ben Wallace warned that blocking exports would badly damage the EU's reputation, saying that vaccine production involved collaboration between several countries around the world.

"Trying to... build walls around this would only damage both EU citizens and United Kingdom," the minister later said in another interview.

EU 'practises vaccine internationalism'


European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness responded by saying allegations of "vaccine nationalism" levied at the EU by the UK government were unfair.

"We could be accused of vaccine internationalism, because we have exported to 31 countries, including the United Kingdom," she told the BBC, adding that all options were on the table but no decision had been taken.

"I think we all need to calm down, look dispassionately at the situation, around the raw materials for vaccines, how they're produced, and how we might ramp up that production," McGuinness said.

European Commission figures published earlier this month said Brussels had authorised more than 249 export requests to 31 countries over the previous six weeks, totalling more than 34 million doses.

The UK was the main recipient of EU-manufactured vaccines, receiving approximately 9.1 million doses.

European Council President Charles Michel accused the UK of imposing an "outright ban" on vaccine exports, a claim dismissed by the British government as "completely false".

But as coronavirus infections soar in parts of Europe, on Saturday the Commission president again stepped up the pressure on pharmaceutical companies over vaccine supplies.

Ursula von der Leyen said AstraZeneca in particular could face export bans to countries outside the EU if it didn’t quickly meet its agreed targets "before you start to deliver to other countries". She said its contract with the EU provided for the delivery of doses produced both on EU territory and in the UK.

"However, we have not received anything from the British, while we are providing them," von der Leyen added, asking "why we export millions of doses of vaccines to countries which produce vaccines themselves and they do not send them back to us."

AstraZeneca is due to deliver 70 million doses of its anti-COVID vaccine in the second quarter, far fewer than the 180 million promised in the contract signed with the EU. In the first quarter, the EU is expected to have received a total of some 30 million doses, compared to 90 million planned by the Swedish-British pharmaceutical group.

The Commission has been blamed over the vaccine procurement process, however, its negotiators accused of being less savvy than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK and the US and of failing to secure priority for supplies.

Germany's health minister said on Friday that a shortage of vaccines leaves Europe unable to prevent a third wave of the pandemic. Several EU countries are imposing or considering new lockdown measures to curb rising COVID-19 cases.

Several nations -- including France, Germany and Italy -- have resumed vaccinations with the AstraZeneca-Oxford jab after a four-day pause. Others will restart this week. A handful of countries have continued their suspensions pending further investigations into rare cases of blood clots.

The European regulator concluded that the vaccine was "safe and effective", with the benefits outweighing the risks. The suspensions have been criticised by many health experts. Some political leaders took the jab on Friday, seeking to encourage its use.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
×