Britain’s Covid vaccine victory is thanks to Brexit says German MEP who blames Europe’s fiasco on ‘dead hand of EU’
BRITAIN's vaccine success is thanks to Brexit, a German MEP has said - adding the "dead hand of the EU" is to blame for the fiasco across the rest of Europe.
It comes as data showed some snail-pace European nations will not manage to jab the majority of adults until 2023 if they continue at the current rate.
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UK regulators approved the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines much earlier than the equivalent EU body, the European Medicines Agency.
And EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen took control of ordering doses for the whole bloc, a decision many blame for agonising delays.
More than 20million people in the UK have had at least one dose, and ministers want all adults over 18 to be offered it by July 31.
"But that ignored the dead hand of the EU bureaucracy, which is the last thing you need in a crisis.
"Valuable weeks and months were lost amid furious horse-trading in Brussels. Many orders were not made until September which, despite its financial clout, put Europe at the back of the queue."
He also slammed German chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders for sowing mistrust in the British-made AstraZeneca jab.
It has led to millions across Europe refusing to have it, leaving some vaccine centres almost empty.
Dr Gunnar wrote: "This state of affairs has nothing to do with the actual merit of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab – or even the virtues of the vaccination programme itself as a treatment for coronavirus - and everything to do with the political posturing of the EU elite as it tries to cover up its failures by pointing the finger of blame elsewhere.
"While Britain used its Brexit freedoms to obtain a range of different vaccines and organise a national roll-out, the EU went into its default mode of mutual back scratching, bickering and failure."
Last week a photo of a deserted vaccine centre at Brussels airport came to symbolise the chaos in the EU.
And Germany's biggest selling paper Bild admitted Britain's vaccine success is the envy of Europe in a front-page banner slating EU failures.
The country has more than a million doses of AstraZeneca sitting in cold storage after patients declined to have a jab.
Even Mrs Merkel, a former scientist, has said she would not have it as she is too old at 66.
Germany controversially ruled it should not be given to over-65s, even though the EMA ruled it can be used for all age groups.
The best performing EU nation, Malta, will have done only 62 per cent of its tiny polulation.
France and Germany will struggle to vaccinate more than 28 per cent of adults and Belgium will have done 20 per cent by September.
And if vaccines are not dished out faster, France and Germany will not have reached a target of jabbing 70 per cent of adults until November 2022, and some countries will be months behind that.
In January Mrs von der Leyen imposed an EU export ban on vaccines as part of a war with drug companies she accused of withholding doses.
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Meanwhile Mrs Merkel and Mr Macron are facing mutinies at home as rising infections could lead to lockdowns lasting months more.
Here, Boris Johnson has said virtually all restrictions will be lifted in England by June 21.