Ursula von der Leyen has declared all out jab warfare on Britain after threatening a blockade of AstraZeneca vaccines made in Europe.
The president of European Commission said Brussels would stop shipments of the vaccine from being exported to the UK in the coming weeks if the Anglo-Swedish company did not meet its supply obligations to EU countries.
Speaking to a group of German newspapers this weekend, Ms Von der Leyen said: “We have the possibility to forbid planned exports.
“That is the message to AstraZeneca, ‘You fulfil your contract with Europe before you start delivering to other countries’.”
France’s European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune appeared to support Ms Von der Leyen’s approach.
He said: “We need a principle of reciprocity: supply others if they supply us in accordance with signed contracts.”
It comes ahead of a EU summit on Thursday which is likely to focus on how member states can speed up their bungled vaccination programmes.
Thirteen countries temporarily banned the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine over concerns it caused blood clots but many have resumed their programmes after the European Medicines Agency said it was safe.
Only around 12 per cent of adults in France, Germany and Italy have had jabs and the rollouts have been so slow they have failed to prevent a third wave of coronavirus.
As a result, huge swathes of Europe are now in lockdown again and many thousands more lives are expected to be lost.
It means that summer holidays abroad for Britons is now “extremely unlikely” according to Dr Mike Tildesley, a member of the government’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, which feeds into Sage.
One cabinet minister told the Sunday Times: “It’s our duty to stop to third wave from crashing over our shores.
“No final decisions have yet been taken but the argument is only running in one direction given the relative state of our vaccination programmes and the virus.”
