Britain cannot publish details of its coronavirus vaccine supply contract with AstraZeneca for “national security” reasons, a government minister has said.
Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon is coming under pressure from London after threatening on Thursday to release details of projected vaccine deliveries in a bid to explain the slow rollout of jabs north of the border.
But prisons minister Lucy Frazer today said that publication would jeopardise national security and put the UK’s supply of vaccines at risk.
It is understood that the UK government fears that public knowledge of the figures would put Britain at a disadvantage in the escalating “vaccine war” with the EU, which is demanding the rerouting of doses made in Oxford and Keele to make up for shortfalls on the continent.
Scotland’s health secretary Jeane Freeman dismissed Ms Frazer’s claim as “not credible”, telling reporters: “We’ve held off publication in the past at their request but that’s no longer tenable. The public have a right to clarity and we will give them that.”
Brussels is furious over AstraZeneca’s announcement last week that it will cut its supplies to the EU by 60 per cent – from 80m to 31m doses – in the first quarter of 2021 because of production problems at a plant in Belgium.
The European Commission today said AZ had agreed to the publication of a redacted version of the contract it signed with Brussels, which the EU believes will demonstrate that the pharmaceutical giant has an obligation to divert UK-manufactured vaccines to meet its supply promises.
The EU today took on powers to impose an export ban on vaccines to countries outside the 27-nation bloc, amid fears it could disrupt the UK’s order for Belgian-made Pfizer jabs.
Commission president Ursula von der Leyen rejected AZ chief executive Pascal Soriot’s argument that the EU contract required the company only to make “best efforts” to meet a supply timetable. This provision was valid only until it was clear that the vaccine would work, she insisted.
And she said there was no “order sequencing” stipulation in the contract, which mentioned four production sites, two of which are in Britain.
“There are binding orders and the contract is crystal clear,” von der Leyen told Deutschlandfunk radio, adding it contained clear delivery amounts for December and the first three quarters of 2021.
“AstraZeneca has also explicitly assured us in this contract that no other obligations would prevent the contract from being fulfilled.”
Boris Johnson’s official spokesman declined to intervene in the row, saying: “Contract matters between AstraZeneca and the EU are a matter for them. We are confident in our supplies.”
Germany’s health minister said he expects the European Medicines Agency to offer only limited approval to the AZ vaccine later on Friday.
Berlin has issued draft advice recommending against use of the jab for over-65s, despite the UK’s MHRA regulator and prime minister Boris Johnson insisting that the vaccine is safe and effective for the elderly.
Jens Spahn said that Germany will then adjust its own guidance for doctors in the country in the light of the EMA findings, but told reporters: “We don’t expect an unrestricted approval.”
Ms Freeman was forced to apologise earlier this month for publishing detailed forecasts of the vaccine supplies expected by the devolved administration, which would allow total expected deliveries for the UK to be calculated by extrapolation.
But Ms Sturgeon warned on Thursday that she was ready to do the same again, after the leader of Tories in the Scottish Parliament Ruth Davidson claimed Scotland had been allocated 1 million doses but was failing to use them.
Accusing the UK government of double standards for using figures to spin against her while insisting she keep them secret, the first minister told the Holyrood assembly: “I have said to my officials regardless of what they say, I think we will just go back to publishing the actual supply figures from next week, so that we all have transparency around that.”
Ms Frazer warned that publication of the contract, setting out details of AZ’s commitments on the timetable of deliveries and exclusivity of supply, would “risk national security”.
She told LBC radio: “Of course, security is the most important matter and we should not be jeopardising that.
“We have published what it is appropriate to publish and we have been extremely transparent throughout the crisis. We’ve published the hospitalisations, we’ve published deaths, we’ve published the number of people who are vaccinated. Where it is appropriate for the public to be informed, we have done so.”
Asked how greater transparency about the vaccine would threaten national security, she said: “It risks security and the security of the vaccine, which risks the security of the people because we do want to vaccinate everybody who needs vaccinating as quickly as possible.”
The former head of the UK’s vaccines task force, Kate Bingham, played down the likelihood of an EU export ban blocking supplies of the Pfizer vaccine.
“I just don’t believe it’ll ever come to that,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“We’ve worked very cooperatively with the European Union… We are interdependent, and I don’t think that the idea that there ae going to be trade barriers is something that we should be considering.
“It’s all about how can we collectively vaccinate all those who are at risk as quickly as possible.”
