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The Telegraph
Fury at Emmanuel Macron’s ‘nonsense’ claims about Oxford Covid vaccine
Emmanuel Macron has been accused of making “nonsense” and “untrue” claims about the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab that risked undermining public confidence in the UK’s vaccine programme. Senior Conservative MPs and scientists accused the French president of failing to understand the science after he claimed the vaccine “doesn’t work as expected” and appeared to be “quasi-ineffective” in the over-65s. Mr Macron also criticised the UK’s decision to give doses 12 weeks apart, claiming this could “accelerate the mutations” of the virus. He was speaking hours before the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use, stating that it could be used “in older adults”. It was the latest salvo in the extraordinary row between Brussels and the UK over vaccines, which saw the EU row back on Friday night over moves to block jabs from crossing from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland. The plans, which were part of wider moves by the EU to place controls on vaccine exports, threatened to effectively create a border on the island of Ireland and were met with a fierce international backlash. Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland’s First Minister branded it an “incredible act of hostility”, while the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, also condemned the move, warning that “seeking to control the export of vaccines undercuts the EU’s basic ethics.” Separately, Micheal Martin, the Irish Taoiseach, expressed his alarm in tense discussions with Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, with sources indicating that neither the UK or Irish governments had been notified in advance. After speaking to Mrs Foster and Mr Martin, the Prime Minister also spoke with Mrs von der Leyen, during which he expressed his “grave concerns about the potential impact which the steps the EU has taken today on vaccine exports could have.” Michael Gove spoke to Maros Sefocovic, the European Commission vice president and his counterpart on the UK-EU joint-committee, to “express the UK’s concern over the lack of notification from the EU about its actions in relation to the Northern Ireland protocol.” Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, urged the EU to de-escalate tensions and deploy a “spirit of co-operation” with the UK to work through “an extraordinarily serious crisis”. Facing mounting condemnation, the Commission on Friday night issued a statement confirming the U-turn, adding that it would “ensure the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol is unaffected.” Speaking in Paris on Friday afternoon, Mr Macron said of the AstraZeneca jab: “We’re waiting for the EMA [European Medicines Agency] results, but today everything points to thinking it is quasi-ineffective on people older than 65, some say those 60 years or older. “What I can tell you officially today is that the early results we have are not encouraging for 60 to 65-year-old people concerning AstraZeneca.”
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