Brussels has been warned not to engage in ‘vaccine nationalism’ as the row over jab exports showed no sign of easing.
Boris Johnson is expected to speak to EU leaders this week ahead of a summit on Thursday.
A possible ban on exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the UK is expected to be on the agenda.
The Government has warned the European Commission to "grow up" over the row, which could slow down the UK's vaccine roll-out programme.
Brussels chief Ursula von der Leyen ramped up rhetoric at the weekend warning the power to "forbid" exports.
She added: "That is the message to AstraZeneca."
Her words reflected growing frustration on the continent that the EU is not getting the supplies it expected from the British-Swedish manufacturer.
Health Minister Helen Whately today told the BBC: "What is helpful is for countries, us and the EU, to support the companies supply and producing the vaccines to supply them and fulfil their contracts.
“And to support the efforts of in the UK and elsewhere to deploy the vaccine and get it into people's arms.”
She added: “What we're hearing at the moment is some speculation, some conjecture, an element of rhetoric.
"But what is actually important is that the EU and no country should follow vaccine nationalism or vaccine protectionism.
"We expect the European Union to stick by their commitments and I'm sure the Prime Minister will be in contact with European counterparts - he speaks to European counterparts regularly - but I don't think this debate is helpful to anybody.
"What matters is for all countries to be getting on and deploying and vaccinating their population."
Labour leader Keir Starmer told LBC Radio: “I don't think the EU is helping itself here. I don't think it's helped itself much in the last few weeks and months on the whole question of vaccine.
“And I don't think they should go down this road of banning exports.
“What we want is this resolved as quickly as possible, because we don't want any shortage in vaccines to interrupt the rollout in this country. And where contracts have been signed they need to be honoured.”
He said the row was “a reminder that we're not going to be through this until we see the whole world vaccinated.”
US trial data published today reveal the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is 79% effective at preventing Covid-19 and offers 100% protection against severe disease.
It’s also 100% effective at keeping people out of hospital with severe illness, the trial found.
An independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB) also identified no safety concerns relating to the vaccine.
Meanwhile, a new YouGov poll suggests confidence in the safety of the vaccine has dropped in the last two weeks in Spain, Germany, France and Italy.
Some 55% of Germans said the AstraZeneca vaccine is unsafe while 32% said it is safe.
AstraZeneca's vaccine was already seen as unsafe in France but concerns have increased even further, with 61% now saying it is unsafe while 23% say it is safe, according to the survey of almost 9,000 people in seven countries.
More than a dozen European countries suspended use of the vaccine over concerns about blood clots, although most have now resumed its use.
Ireland's commissioner Mairead McGuinness said on Sunday that no decisions have been made over any potential vaccine export block.
She said that European citizens were "growing angry and upset" that the vaccine rollout had "not happened as rapidly as we had anticipated".
She told the BBC: "Both the EU and the UK have contracts with AstraZeneca and my understanding is the company is supplying the UK but not the European Union. We are supplying the UK with other vaccines, so I think this is just about openness and transparency."
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace hit back by warning the manufacture of the Pfizer vaccine depends on supplies from the UK. "Making a vaccine is like baking a cake. We all have different ingredients and the European Commission will know that," he said.
