Liz Truss says ‘too early’ to talk of UK giving excess Covid vaccines to other countries

'On track’ to vaccinate everyone in care homes by this evening

Kate Devlin

Whitehall Editor

Sunday 31 January 2021 15:08 EST

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'Too early to say' if UK should give excess vaccines to EU, says Truss

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A cabinet minister has said it is too early to talk of the UK giving excess doses of the coronavirus vaccine to other countries as the EU continues to struggle with delays to its supply.

The international trade secretary, Liz Truss, also hinted that such a move could only happen if it did not affect the UK’s timetable to vaccinate the entire adult population by the autumn.

She admitted, however, that it was in Britain’s best interest to ensure other countries also had large numbers of jabs – to halt the spread of the virus around the world.

Her colleague Michael Gove had said the UK wanted to “help” the EU, which faces a crisis in its supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

In a record daily rise, official data showed a 598,389 rise in the number of people vaccinated, bringing the UK-wide total to 8,977,329.

But it came as another 587 people died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the official death toll to 106,158.

Ms Truss told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “What we know about the vaccination programme is this is a global problem and we need a global solution.

“We're only going to be able to deal with this disease if we get everybody vaccinated across the world.”

She added: “Of course, we first need to make sure that our population is vaccinated. We have a target to get the most vulnerable vaccinated by late February. It’s a bit too early to say how we would deploy vaccines, but we certainly want to work with friends and neighbours, we want to work with developing countries.”

She also said the French president, Emmanuel Macron, was wrong to claim the AstraZeneca vaccine was “quasi-ineffective” for the over-65s.

She told The BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “I don’t think it’s right for politicians to be commenting or making decisions about the efficacy of vaccines, that's why we have independent authorities to look at these vaccines.

“In the UK’s case, our authorities have said this vaccine is safe and effective, it’s being rolled out and it’s already making a difference.”

On Friday, the EU was forced to back down from plans to control the export of vaccines to Northern Ireland – potentially creating a border across the island – as it sought to shore up its own supply.

The move united politicians from Dublin, London and Belfast in condemnation.

In an appearance on Ridge’s programme, Tony Blair also described it as “very foolish” for the EU to move to override the Brexit Deal on Northern Ireland.

The former UK prime minister also said the move risked jeopardising the peace process.

The Northern Ireland Protocol is designed to allow the free movement of goods from the EU into the province, preventing the need for a hard border on the island of Ireland.

The World Health Organisation has called on the UK to halt temporarily its vaccination scheme once vulnerable groups have been inoculated, in order to contribute doses to other countries.