EU and UK 'reset' relations after NI vaccine row
The UK and EU will "reset" relations after Brussels triggered a provision in the Brexit deal to control vaccine exports, the Cabinet Workplace minister has said.
Ministers said they are confident that the EU won't block vaccines from getting into the UK.
It employs Brussels reversed its widely-condemned decision which could have seen checks in the Irish border.
Michael Gove added the European Commission recognized its "mistake".
He said he had spoken with European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič and the couple had decided to put the people of Northern Ireland first.
Mr Gove said the UK was "on the right track" to provide 15 million jabs by 15 February, adding that the UK's course would continue while planned.
And Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he was "reassured the EU does not have any desire to block suppliers fulfilling agreements for vaccine distribution to the UK" following discussions with European Commission executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis.
The UK government says it really is "focused on supporting equitable usage of vaccines worldwide" nonetheless it is too early to formally talk about donating a few of its vaccine materials to other countries.
But an authorities spokesperson added: "This pandemic is a worldwide task and international collaboration on vaccine creation and production is still an integral part of our response."
'Working to safeguard everyone'
The EU's risk of border controls came amid a deepening dispute over delays to the production and distribution of Covid vaccines across the continent.
The bloc is introducing a so-called transparency mechanism, gives countries in the bloc powers to deny authorization for vaccine exports if the business making them hasn't honored existing contracts with the EU.
The EU's try to apply actions to the Irish border was widely-condemned, and the heads of the UK- and Europe-wide industry bodies have warned against export bans.
"Companies will work as fast because they can to safeguard everyone. Export restrictions carry out no one worthwhile and we urge governments in order to avoid them," Richard Torbett, mind of the UK's Association of the British Pharmaceutical Sector, and Nathalie Moll, head of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, wrote in the Observer.
The EU has insisted that its controls certainly are a temporary scheme, and not an export ban.
It comes mainly because the World Health Group said "vaccine nationalism" could prolong the pandemic and additional widen global inequality.
Mr Gove said the federal government expected vaccines created by Pfizer and AstraZeneca to get supplied to the UK but said it could use the EU to "be sure that their own concerns can be tackled".
"Our primary priority is vaccinating persons in britain, but we as well want to utilize our others who live nearby in europe as a way to help them aswell," he said.
