Vaccine battle as EU threatens to BLOCK Pfizer jabs going to UK

 Boris Johnson warned the European Union that he expected it to honour government contracts for coronavirus vaccines as a deepening diplomatic row saw senior Brussels figures accused the UK of stealing jabs destined for countries in the bloc.

The UK and the EU were in a tense stand-off this evening as continental figures attempted to shift blame for its slovenly rollout of the inoculations in comparison to Britain.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen vowed to make firms declare what vaccines they are exporting to the UK as she scrambled to contain the backlash.

The commission president said a ‘transparency mechanism’ is being introduced as she insisted that the bloc ‘means business’ about getting its fair share of supplies.

And in a sign of Brussels’ desperation, an unnamed source told the Telegraph there were suspicions that AstraZeneca jabs earmarked ‘to be delivered to the EU aftermarket authorisation have actually ended up in Britain.’

However, the boss of the British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm tonight fired back at EU health chiefs, insisting Brussels was late with its vaccine order.

Responding to the criticism, Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca, tonight told German paper Die Welt: ‘We signed an agreement with the UK three months before we did with Europe.’

However, he also told the paper that the company was ‘very disappointed’ that supply chain issues had caused a delay in vaccine production – a delay which yesterday sparked the firm to announce it would only be able to supply 31million of 80million doses to EU by end of March.

Meanwhile, fronting a Downing Street press conference tonight, Mr Johnson said he had ‘total confidence’ in the UK’s supply of vaccines.

And in a warning shot at the EU, he added: ‘All I would say is obviously we expect and hope that our EU friends will honour all contracts.

‘And we continue to work with friends and partners in the EU, and indeed around the world, because the delivery of the vaccine has been a multinational effort, the creation of the vaccine has been a multinational effort, and the delivery of the vaccine is multinational as well because the virus knows no borders,’ he said.

The sabre-rattling from Brussels, which comes amid growing chaos and protests across the continent, has incensed senior MPs, with warnings that the EU could ‘poison’ relations for a generation if it blocks some of the 40million Pfizer doses the UK has bought ‘legally and fairly’.

Mr Johnson also offered his ‘deepest condolences’ to those who have lost relatives to coronavirus and pledged to ensure their loved ones are remembered as the Government’s figure for Covid-19 deaths passed 100,000.

The Prime Minister said that when the country comes through the crisis ‘we will come together as a nation to remember everyone we lost and to honour the selfless heroism of all those on the front line who gave their lives to save others’.