Vaccine stand-off intensifies as EU takes on powers to block exports

Britain’s stand-off with Brussels over vaccines intensified today as the EU took on powers to block the export of Covid-19 jabs which could interrupt the delivery of millions of life-saving doses to the UK.

And there was fury in London that the new “transparency and authorisation mechanism” requiring companies to seek the approval of European authorities before shipping vaccines out of the 27-nation bloc will apply to Northern Ireland – even though the province is treated as part of the EU customs union under the Brexit divorce deal.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove raised concerns with European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič over the lack of prior notification of the move, which required Brussels to invoke a special “safeguard” mechanism in the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Mr Gove said the UK would be “carefully considering next steps” over the move, which the Commission said was being taken because it was not possible to impose controls over goods moving on from Northern Ireland to mainland Britain.

Although Brussels insisted the new mechanism was not directed at any particular country, the UK was the only one of the EU’s neighbours not to be included on an exemption list from the mechanism, widely seen as a precursor to a possible export ban if the bloc runs short of vaccines.

Mutual  mistrust was fuelled by the suggestion of EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders that “maybe the UK wants to start a vaccine war”.

There were fears the mechanism could be used to halt the delivery of 3.5m  jabs due to be sent to the UK from Pfizer’s plant in Belgium over the coming weeks.

The move came as the European Medicines Agency gave its long-awaited approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine developed at Oxford University to be used across the EU, amid a furious row with its manufacturer over supply levels.

But French president Emmanuel Macron threw doubt on the value of the Oxford jab, describing it as “quasi-ineffective” for over-65s, despite the EMA’s assurance that it could be used safely on the elderly. Germany also confirmed it will give the vaccine only to people aged 18-64.

Professor Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, insisted that the AZ jab “can be used on all ages” and would deliver similar immune responses among both older and younger adults.

But Mr Macron claimed the jab “doesn’t work the way we were expecting to” and also questioned the decision of countries such as the UK to leave a long gap between the initial and booster doses of the vaccine.

“The goal is not to have the biggest number of first injections,” said the French president. “When you have all the medical agencies and the industrialists who say you need two injections for it to work, a maximum of 28 days apart, which is the case with Pfizer/BioNTech. And you have countries whose vaccine strategy is to only administer one jab, I’m not sure that it’s very serious.”

Health secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the EMA approval of the AZ vaccine on a dosing schedule of up to 12 weeks, which he said showed “British science and global collaboration is saving lives”.