The UK is to turn down the chance to join a multi-billion-euro EU plan to secure supplies of potential corona-virus vaccines, after concluding its conditions were unfavorable.
The UK’s potential entry to the scheme was a test of the possibilities for emergency co-operation with the EU at a time when talks over their wider post-Brexit relationship are tense. The negotiations came as an international battle escalates among rich countries to buy up corona-virus remedies, often long before their effectiveness has been confirmed.
The UK government decided “on this occasion” not to join the EU plan because London would not have had any say in which vaccines to procure, at what price or in what quantity and to what delivery schedule, British officials said.
“We would not be able to negotiate with a company the commission is negotiating with,” said one. “We would have to stop our own negotiations if the EU started negotiating with a manufacturer we were already negotiating with”.
The UK government insisted that it was still open to strengthening its collaboration with the EU on vaccines “outside the framework”.
That could include sharing information on potential vaccines, negotiations with manufacturers, trials and mitigation to supply chain bottlenecks.