Covid vaccine: UK under 'no real pressure' to export jabs amid EU-AstraZeneca row
The government is under "no real pressure" to consider exporting vaccines to the European Union, the business secretary has said.
It comes after the EU demanded access to AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in UK plants.
"UK factories are part of our advanced purchase agreement and that is why they have to deliver," EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said on Wednesday, as the bloc’s row with AstraZeneca over a shortage of doses intensified.
Speaking on ITV's Peston, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: "[The vaccine] was devised here in the UK, and I don't think that there's any real pressure on us to start thinking about exporting the vaccine.
Kwasi Kwarteng responds to concerns about the EU-AstraZeneca row on Peston
"That's obviously something for AstraZeneca but our number one priority...is to make sure that our most vulnerable cohorts are vaccinated in a very timely and efficient way."
His comments echo those made by Boris Johnson at a Downing Street press conference earlier on Wednesday. “All I can say is that we’re very confident in our supplies, we’re very confident in our contracts, and we’re going ahead on that basis,” the Prime Minister said.
In his appearance on Peston, Mr Kwarteng could not rule out whether people who had been given the Pfizer vaccine as a first dose might receive the Oxford vaccine as a second dose.
"I think, as I say, it's an evolving picture," he said.
"I don't think, there have been pressures in supply, but I don't think this has impeded the full rollout of the vaccinations.
"We are confident that we will be able to vaccinate the most vulnerable people, as I've said."