French MEP says EU is 'not blocking' exports of coronavirus vaccines to the UK
Dr Véronique Trillet-Lenoir, a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Public Health, has told Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard that the EU is "not blocking" exports of the coronavirus vaccine to the UK.
Her comments come after European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels the EU was seeking to block exports of coronavirus vaccines to countries with higher vaccination rates.
Insisting that the EU just wants AstraZeneca to follow its commitments, Dr Véronique Trillet-Lenoir said: "It is not blocking. It is just making sure that the doses dedicated to the EU by contract with AstraZeneca will come to the EU. It is asking AstraZeneca’s firm to follow its commitments."
"We certainly don’t have to do vaccine nationalism and war," she added.
She went on to state that the problem isn't with the UK.
"The problem is not with the UK, it’s with the firm…Now the firm is in a situation where it can deliver," she said.
However, she said that the EU will block vaccines being exported to the UK if "they are not destined for the UK."