The United Kingdom said Friday that it would not participate in the European Union program, which it left at the end of January, with a view to obtaining potentially effective vaccines against the coronavirus.
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The European Commission " has confirmed that it is not possible for the United Kingdom to continue negotiations with potential suppliers of vaccines at the same time, " said British Ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow in a letter. addressed to the European executive.
London would not have had a say
Besides having to give up its own efforts to procure vaccines, London would also have had no say in the conditions of acquisition of the vaccines, in particular " the price, the volume and the delivery schedule ", a he added. UK Health Minister Matt Hancock also said on Times Radio on Friday that the UK is " ahead " of the EU in terms of negotiations with vaccine producers.
The country supports with millions of pounds the efforts of British researchers in the global quest for a vaccine, especially those of Imperial College London and the University of Oxford - in association with the British pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca . In June, the EU published its " vaccine strategy " to help develop future vaccines against Covid-19 disease and reserve them in advance with producers.
The United Kingdom, the most mourning country in Europe with 44,650 dead according to a report published on Friday, left the EU at the end of January, but continues to apply European rules during a transition period running until December 31, 2020.
