Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels in December.
Photographer: Aaron Chown / PA Media / Bloomberg
Photographer: Aaron Chown / PA Media / Bloomberg
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen received a phone call on Wednesday night after the European Union’s efforts to secure the vaccine supply raised tensions between the two sides, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The call took place around 19.00, said one of the people. It came just hours after von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, launched plans to restrict vaccine exports from the EU to the UK. Commission and UK government spokesmen declined to comment.
A row over vaccine exports is the latest controversy over troubled relations between the UK and the EU since Britain left the bloc. The two sides are also involved in an argument over the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit agreement.
The UK is the largest recipient of doses taken in the EU, receiving 10 million of the 42 million photos exported in February. The EU ambassadors were said on Wednesday that no vaccines had been imported from the UK.
Read more: EU chooses fight against Astra vaccine with UK over missing supplies
– With the assistance of Tim Ross and Nikos Chrysoloras