The coronavirus vaccination programme will not be affected by France’s ban on freight from the UK, the Transport Secretary has said.
Grant Shapps told Sky News on Monday that the disruption around the Channel ports in Kent “won’t have an impact” on the vaccine supply.
He said: “Most vaccine doesn’t come via what is called ‘Ro-Ro’, roll-on, roll-off, which is what we are talking about here.
“In other words, it’s not usually accompanied by a driver, by a haulier. It comes on those containers.
“To put this into context, there are about 6,000 vehicles we would expect, just under in Dover today, probably 4,000 would have gone across from Dover, just under about 2,000 on the Eurotunnel.
“But there is probably something like 32,000 units that would have been the daily total, so the vast majority – including virtually all the vaccine – actually comes via container and there are good supplies in the meantime.
“So this won’t have an impact on the vaccination programme.”
