UK and EU agree 'a reset' after NI vaccine fiasco

11m ago

16:54

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/jan/30/coronavirus-live-news-eu-vaccine-export-shortages-brexit-astrazeneca-pfizer-european-union-vaccination-uk-australia

 

UK and EU agree 'a reset' after NI vaccine fiasco

Coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca are expected to be supplied to the UK as planned, despite the EU’s export controls and demands for British-manufactured jabs, after a discussion with Brussels’ chief, the British cabinet office minister Michael Gove has said.

 

Gove said the EU recognises it “made a mistake” in its widely-condemned attempt to override part of the Brexit agreement on Northern Ireland, to prevent shipments of jabs entering the UK, in a move that risked imposing a hard border with the republic.

 

Gove said:

 

The prime minister [Boris Johnson] was very clear, we’ve entered into contractual arrangements with AstraZeneca and Pfizer and we expect those arrangements to be honoured.

 

And president von der Leyen was clear that she understood exactly the UK government’s position, so we expect that those contracts will be honoured, we expect that vaccines will continue to be supplied.

 

We’re confident that we can proceed with our vaccine programmes exactly as planned.

 

I’ve spoken to the European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič about this and we both agreed that we need a reset, that we need to put the people of Northern Ireland first.

1h ago

15:57

Summary of key updates

 

• Early data from two new coronavirus vaccine trials has indicated that they have less efficacy at protecting from the South African variant of coronavirus. Clinical trial data showed that the vaccines from Novavax and Johnson & Johnson had significantly less efficacy at preventing coronavirus in trial participants in South Africa, where the new variant is widespread, compared with countries where the variant is less common.
• A further 681 people who tested positive for the coronavirus in England have died, taking the total number of confirmed deaths in hospitals to 71,226, NHS England has said.
• People arriving in Iran from Europe will be required to self-quarantine for two weeks after producing two negative coronavirus tests, a health official said on Saturday. Travellers from other regions, including neighbouring countries, will have to have tested negative before arrival in the country.
• The Vatican museums, including the Sistine Chapel, will reopen on Monday after being closed for 88 days due to the coronavirus pandemic, the longest closure since the second world war.
• Brussels will publish a revised regulation to potentially block vaccine exports out of the EU on Saturday, after an international outcry over its initial plans to erect an export border for doses on the island of Ireland.
• Pakistan has secured 17m doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, according to Reuters. It will receive roughly 6m doses in the first quarter of 2021, and the rest in the second quarter.