Vaccine row: Whately addresses prospect of UK retaliation

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A host of member states banned the Covid jab’s use over unsubstantiated claims it causes blood clots. Most nations have now resumed their programmes after the fears were dismissed by European medical regulators the EMA. But the temporary suspension has had a detrimental impact on trust in the AstraZeneca vaccine’s safety.

The new poll by YouGov revealed the Oxford jab is now seen as more unsafe in Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

A UK Government source accused EU nations of threatening the lives of Briton, where the jab also saw trust in it diminish.

The source told the Politico website: “It is one thing for the EU to risk the lives of its own people by spreading disinformation about the Oxford vaccine, that is bad enough.

“But for that disinformation to threaten the lives of people in Britain is a serious hostile act, the sort of which we would usually only expect from an enemy state.”

According to the YouGov survey, people in Germany who considered the AstraZeneca vaccine safe slumped from 55 percent to 32 percent over the last two weeks.

In France, the figure plunged from 61 percent to just 23 percent.

Similar was reported in Spain, where 52 percent of people said the Oxford jab was unsafe – up 27 points.

And 43 percent of Italians also said it’s unsafe, a 27-point jump on last month.

The row over AstraZeneca had a much smaller impact in Britain, but still saw trust levels in the jab fall.

In the UK, 77 percent of people said the vaccine was safe and just nine percent said it is unsafe – a four-point increase.

YouGov surveyed 1,672 adults in Britain, 2024 in Germany, 1022 in France, 1016 in Italy, 1050 in Spain, 1004 in Denmark and 1017 in Sweden between March 12-18.

The latest vaccine trials in the US have found the AstraZeneca jab to be both safe and highly effective.

New data showed it was 79 percent effective against stopping symptomatic Covid infections and 100 percent effective at preventing serious illness.

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The phase three study also found no safety risks regard blood clots.

Meanwhile, the EU has singled out UK-based AstraZeneca in recent criticism.

Brussels has accused the Anglo-Swedish pharma giant of not delivering enough doses to member states and instead prioritising its contract with Britain.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week announced plans to trigger emergency powers to seize control of the firm’s production plants.

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She will also encourage EU leaders to blockade any exports from the company’s continental facilities and prevent doses being shipped to Britain.

Eurocrats have targeted the Halix plant in the Netherlands, which is understood to have a stockpile of the active ingredient of the Oxford vaccine.

An EU official said: “The Brits are insisting that the Halix plant in the Netherlands must deliver the drug substance produced there to them. That doesn’t work.”

The Commission is set to use its export ban to stop all exports from AstraZeneca to the UK, a source last night claimed.

“It’s bloody obvious,” they said, insisting that the EU had shipped more than 10 million doses to Britain and received none back in return.

“We cannot have a situation where the UK plant for AstraZeneca can only produce for the UK,” the insider added.

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