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A British government minister said the UK won the tender to approve a covid-19 vaccine because it is a “better country”, threatening to further deteriorate relations with European partners at a critical time for negotiations on the post-Brexit future.
“We have the best people in this country and of course we have the best medical regulator, much better than the French, much better than the Belgians, much better than the Americans,” Education Minister Gavin Williamson said in statements to LBC Radio. “It doesn’t surprise me at all, because we are a much better country than all of them.”
This is the moment Gavin Williamson said @NickFerrariLBC the UK was the first to approve a vaccine because “we are a much better country”pic.twitter.com/1PtkOJ1CeB
– Rachael Venables (@rachaelvenables) December 3, 2020
The statements come shortly after another Executive Minister Boris Johnson, Minister of Economy, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Alok Sharma, said the decision to approve the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine – which was developed in the United States and in Germany – was a sign that “the UK led humanity’s attack on this disease”.
The statement sparked criticism from the German ambassador in London who, on Twitter, argued that vaccine development and approval is not a national matter.
“Because it is so difficult to recognize this important advance as a great effort and an international success,” wrote Andreas Michaelis on the social network. “I don’t think this is a national story. Even if the German company BioNTech has made a fundamental contribution, it is a European and transatlantic issue.”
Comments from UK government officials come at a time when the deadline for an understanding between the UK and the EU on future trade relations is approaching and when France, one of the countries minimized by the education minister threatens to veto an agreement.
The United Kingdom intends to start vaccinating the population as early as next week, after having obtained the green light from the regulator yesterday for the use of Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine against covid-19.
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