Vaccine row: European Union warned about contracts by Wallace

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But in the latest shambolic area of management during the Covid pandemic, the Valneva vaccine is being made available to Brexit Britain first after the EU and French President Emmanuel Macron failed to pre-order doses. The UK Government has reportedly secured an order for 190 million doses of the French vaccine, with the first 60 million of the 100 million doses set to continue into the first quarter of next year, with the rest also due for delivery in 2022.

British authorities also have the option for a further 90 million doses to be delivered between 2023 and 2025 that would bring the total value of the order up to £1.2billion. The manufacturing process will take place in Livingston, Scotland.

But in what has proved to be a major source of embarrassment for the EU and France, no deal was agreed with Valneva to deliver vaccine doses to the bloc.

Discussions between the bloc and vaccine maker got underway in early 2020 but collapsed on the grounds “the French company had not fulfilled the conditions” for marketing in Europe.

Now the failure from the EU to secure any doses of the vaccine as the bloc desperately tries to recover form the catastrophic pandemic has been torn apart by a leading Frexiteer.

Generation Frexit President Charles-Henri Gallois launched a furious attack against Brussels, lambasting the bloc for instead ordering a German vaccine which he claims is less than 50 percent efficient.

At the end of June, CureVac said its vaccine was only 48 percent effective in the final analysis of its pivotal mass trial, only marginally better than the 47 percent reported after an initial read-out two weeks earlier.

Mr Gallois Express.co.uk: “It’s a terrible mistake and a shame for France. The obsession to have an EU solution and purchase by Macron is a total disaster.

“We had the rollout three months after the UK for Pfizer and AstraZeneca and the EU is not taking into account this French vaccine.

“The EU does not want to order this French vaccine but in the meantime, it has ordered many doses of the German vaccine Curevac which appears to be only efficient at 48 percent.

“The EU works for Germany and not for France. It’s not a surprise.”

The leading Frexiteer claimed the latest embarrassment from the EU has been made even worse by the fact Brexit Britain ordered 100 million doses of the Valneva vaccine and once again shows the huge benefits of member states wishing to leave the bloc.

He said: “It shows one more time that an independent country is much more efficient and agile that the bureaucratic EU.”

When asked if this shows why Frexit must happen sooner rather than later, Mr Gallois replied: “It’s hard to say as everyone is focused on Covid crisis, they may not see the link with the EU and only blame Macron which is co-responsible.

“When we do the accounts, after the crisis, I think that it will be a great advertising for Frexit as the EU has handled it so badly.”

Speaking in April, after Valneva had called off the talks with the EU, the firm’s chief executive Thomas Lingelbach expressed his frustration having gone “in circles” without progress.

Just weeks later, 12 EU member states, including France and Germany, indicated they wanted to order vaccines themselves rather than through the bloc’s procurement system.

Valneva chief financial officer David Lawrence said the company is “speaking with various governments”.

He added: “We believe that our inactivated vaccine can make a major contribution to the ongoing fight against the pandemic and remain committed to bringing it to market.”

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