BRITS should carry on taking the “safe” AstraZeneca vaccine which is powering Britain towards lockdown freedom while the rest of Europe faces a devastating third Covid wave, a top minister said today.
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the UK is on track to hit the PM’s roadmap plan of being free from restrictions by June 21 thanks to the “extremely effective rollout” of the Oxford jab.
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His remarks came with Britain set to smash through the 25 million doses mark today and on course to give half of adults at least one shot of the vaccine by the weekend.
In contrast the whole EU has only managed to administer 7.9% of its population at least one jab, and 18 Member States have now suspended use of the AZ vaccine over unsubstantiated blood clot fears.
Asked about the decision by those countries to stop using the shot, Mr Kwarteng said: “The first thing I would like to say is that the jab is safe. If people do get the call, they should take the jab.
“We are looking at the effects of the vaccine rollout day by day. It has been a very effective programme.
“Hospitalisation rates have fallen, the death rate has fallen considerably, and incidence of people catching Covid has also fallen – the R rate is well below 1.0.”
“All these things have come down considerably because of the vaccination, because of the fact that by the end of the week we’ll have like vaccinated half the adult population and the equivalent number in a lot of the countries on the continent is under 10%.
“So it’s been a successful rollout here in Britain. I didn’t want to be complacent – there’s still a long way to go to defeat Coronavirus – but I think we’ve made a good progress in the vaccine rollout.”
The business secretary pointed out that both France and Italy have already said they want to accelerate use of the AZ jab as soon as possible, and expect it to be cleared again by EU regulators on tomorrow.
French PM Jean Castex has even promised to bump himself up the queue and take the vaccine as soon as possible after its rollout is resumed in a bid to rebuild public confidence.
Mr Kwarteng said he was “very pleased” the pair have “essentially done U-turn” but said it was up to European politicians to explain “if they are playing games” with the British-made shot.
He acknowledged the move by a number of European countries could have a knock-on effect on “confidence and take up levels” here but said Brits “broadly accept” the overwhelming science showing it’s safe and works.
The Cabinet minister said: “I see lots of people in this country, millions of people, taking the vaccine, they are very happy to do so.
“It is giving people a lot of confidence and I’m very pleased that, on the PM’s road map, I think we can hit those targets and reopen the economy by June 21 and get things moving again in this country.”
His remarks come amid a growing civil war in Europe over the continent’s floundering vaccine rollout and the highly controversial decision by individual countries to suspend the AZ jab.
In Germany doctors at one vaccination centre were reported to have been brought to tears by having to destroy a batch of unused vaccines, describing the situation as a “disaster beyond all expectations”.
The move has been slammed by opposition MPs there, with socialist health lead Karl Lauterbach calling it a “big mistake” that will “only create great uncertainty and mistrust in a situation where every vaccination counts”.
There is anger too across many other European capitals, including Paris and Italy, which feel they were bounced into halting use of the Oxford shot by Berlin’s decision to pull the plug.
The head of Italy’s medicines agency railed against the move as a “political choice” and vowed to resume vaccinations at a greater than ever pace as soon as possible.
Meanwhile in Poland – which has not suspended use of the jab – a top adviser to the PM suggested a commercially motivated “disinformation” campaign designed to benefit AZ’s rivals was behind the decisions.
The European Medicines Agency, which will publish a review into the jab’s safety tomorrow, has repeatedly insisted there is no evidence to link it to rare and dangerous blood clots that have developed in some patients.
Its head Emer Cooke said there was “there is no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions” and the benefits of taking it far outweigh any risks of side-effects.
There have been 37 reports of clotting events among the more than 17 million people who have received the vaccine across the EU and Britain, according to AstraZeneca.
