According to the Financial Times and BBC Public Service Media, citing government sources Johnson will speak with leaders of several member states by phone ahead of the online summit of European Union leaders scheduled for ThursdayIn an attempt to persuade them to veto a possible Commission proposal on an export ban.
According to London reports, the agenda for the hypothetical meeting includes a discussion of whether the European Union will officially stop the export of vaccines from British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to the UK to Great Britain.
According to government sources in the Financial Times Boris Johnson intends to consult with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, among others..
As a prelude to this, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has made several statements in recent days that the European Union has the means to prevent the export of vaccines, especially if manufacturers want to export vaccines from the European Union to countries where vaccination rates are higher than they are in the European Union.
In Britain, which withdrew from the European Union in January, the proportion of those who have already received their first dose of the Coronavirus vaccine has exceeded 40 percent of the total population of 68 million. However, the UK’s vaccination campaign has so far reached the adult population over the age of 18, and more than half of this 52.7 million age group has already received the vaccination.
In the European Union, the vaccination rate for the entire population is 12 percent on average.
The British government aims to have at least the first dose of the Coronavirus vaccination available to all people over 50 by the end of July by the end of July.
A Downing Street spokesman said in a statement on Monday that this timetable would not be jeopardized even if the European Union completely halts vaccine exports to Britain.
However, the Monday issue of the left-wing British newspaper The Guardian, citing data company Airfinity, wrote that if the European Union banned EU exports of vaccines from the EU completely, it would take until the end of August for the entire adult British population to receive it. The first dose.
However, according to Airfinity’s analysis, this will not speed up the European Union’s vaccination program much. According to the company’s calculations, the European Union will be able to vaccinate 75 percent of its population by August 31, despite the current supply problems, but it will only be able to achieve the same goal by August 19 with a blanket ban on exports of vaccines.
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