The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen estimated Tuesday February 2 that the European strategy of vaccination, criticized for its slowness, was "
the good one
", indirectly pinning the strategy of the United Kingdom which vaccinated more quickly, in an interview with the newspaper
Le Monde
.
Read also: Vaccines: "Europe lacked responsiveness and combativeness"
“
Some countries started to vaccinate a little before Europe, it's true.
But they resorted to emergency, twenty-four hour marketing authorization procedures.
The Commission and the Member States agreed not to compromise with the safety and efficacy requirements which are linked to the authorization of a vaccine,
”said Von der Leyen.
"
Europe left later, but it was the right decision,
" she added.
On Monday, the French Secretary of State for European Affairs Clément Beaune was on the same line.
According to him, the British "are
taking in this vaccination campaign (...) a lot of risks
".
"
I do not think that our fellow citizens would accept that we take all the risks, contrary to the opinions of our scientists, for this vaccination campaign
" he added on France inter radio.
On Tuesday, the spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson assured that the United Kingdom had "
taken no short cuts
" for its vaccination campaign.
“
The public remain confident in the safety and efficacy of vaccinations,
” he added.
A summit meeting took place Monday in Berlin between German leaders and several pharmaceutical groups to try to relaunch the vaccination campaign, which is stalling in many European countries for lack of stocks.
The AstraZeneca laboratory, which is under the wrath of European leaders due to delivery delays, will finally increase by 30% in the first quarter the placing on the European market of its vaccine authorized on Friday by the EU.
“
To be clear, we want these vaccines.
AstraZeneca warned us of its delay at the last moment and without giving any convincing reasons, we now need transparency,
”lamented Ursula von der Leyen.
The announcement of these delays has fueled speculation about shipments to the United Kingdom of vaccines produced by this pharmaceutical group in the EU, to the detriment of its contractual obligations with Brussels.
“
We want to know what he produced in his European factories, what was exported, where it was exported and what was stored.
Better transparency than rumors,
”claimed von der Leyen.
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