UK views blocking of exports from AstraZeneca as “harmful” World | D.W.

British Defense Minister Ben Wallace warned this Sunday (03/21/2021) that blocking AstraZeneca’s exports would have the “opposite effect”, with the head of the European Commission yesterday threatening that the EU would not receive its goods in the first place.

“The EU is aware that the world is watching the commission,” Wallace told SkyNews Television.

“If contracts and obligations are broken, it will have a huge impact on the business camp that adds (respect) to the law,” he added.

He promised it would be “counterproductive”. Underlining the co-operation of vaccine production involving many countries in the world, the Minister warned that it would “not only compromise the possibilities of providing an appropriate vaccination program for their citizens, but also the rest of the world.” Will damage the reputation of the European Union. “

“Attempting to dismantle or erect walls would be detrimental to the citizens of the European Union and the United Kingdom,” the minister later told the BBC.

European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen on Saturday threatened to ban the export of AstraZeneca’s corona virus vaccine if the EU does not meet its promised levels in the first place.

“Respect the agreement with Europe”

“We have the option to suspend planned exports. This is our message to AstraZeneca: Respect the agreement with Europe before starting to deliver to other countries (DOS),” the official said in an interview with the German press group Funke.

The head of the European Commission recalled that the agreement with AstraZeneca provides for the supply of quantities produced in the European Union (factories in Belgium and the Netherlands) and in the United Kingdom.

Ursula van der Leyen argued that “but we did not receive anything from the British” made in the EU, adding that the camp had sent a “formal letter” to complain to the Swedish-British pharmaceutical board.

Meanwhile, the mass vaccination campaign that began in the United Kingdom on December 8 is gaining strength, with the number of drugs registered on Saturday: 844,285 in 24 hours, the government said on Sunday.

More than half of the 52.7 million adults in the UK have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The government’s goal is to get the first dose of the corona virus vaccine to all people over the age of 50 by mid-April and to all adults by the end of July.

The United Kingdom, a European country most affected by the epidemic with more than 126,000 deaths, uses vaccines from Pfizer / Bioendech and Astrogenega / Oxford.

mg (afp, Reuters)